System Compatibility
by hoshi-ni-onegai
Summary: They could only be programmed to do so much, and Kenshin was programmed to be the perfect assassin. Worried he might turn on them, his creators decided to design him a companion. AU. KxK
1. Prologue

Author Notes: I'm having some difficulty writing the next chapter for "Quadrille of War" (an Inuyasha fic), because I feel like I really don't have readers for that fic. It's a court fic crossed with a war fic, and I'm not sure if there is an audience for it. So, instead I decided to start another. No, this is not a one-shot. I know I've been throwing those out at my readers for months now, but the wait is over. It has been five and a half years since I last wrote a RK multi-chapter fic. I considered expanding one of my vignettes, but decided that there was story I really wanted to write. PLEASE bear with me. I know the concept may be very strange, but I'm really looking forward to writing this. This is the prologue and I really don't expect any reviews, but please keep an open mind.

Disclaimer: The _Rurouni Kenshin_ world and all characters depicted are a creation of mangaka, Watsuki Nobuhiro.

**Prologue**

By Hoshi-ni-Onegai

The truck rumbled along in the cover of the night. The unassuming privatized delivery truck driver was on his usual route from the large city to the small sleepy town. He knew the journey like the back of his hand. Every curve and bump of the state route was engraved in his mind. After seven years with the company, he had spent the past three driving this particular route five nights a week.

The radio lazily droned out the musical styling of an old time folk singer and blended into the constant hum of the engine. The truck driver mumbled along with the lyrics. He was two hours into the three hour trip. He could probably have cut out about half an hour if he took the new interstate highway, but due to liability reasons and the age of his truck, the company forced him to the less frequented old road.

Most of his late night trip was spent alone. There were the occasional rowdy group of local teenagers that would race down the road, but otherwise it was abandoned. The driver figured that it would be like any other night, but he wouldn't have made that assumption if he was aware of the cargo he carried in his inconspicuous truck.

It began as suddenly as it ended. A cloaked figure rushed into the middle of the street. The driver slammed on his breaks. Sticking his head out the window he yelled at the figure, "What the hell do you think you're doing!"

The figure revealed a malicious smile as he raised a gun with a silencer. Two rapid fire shots and the driver barely knew what happened to him.

The man walked toward the truck and pulled the driver out and threw him on the road. "Just borrowing your truck."

With spurt of the engine, the truck continued its way down the road.

xXx

"We should use the crane."

The man paused from his movements for a moment then rolled his eyes. "We don't need it."

The two shipping boats swayed in the darkness of the ocean. The other man frowned, "This seems like an accident waiting to happen."

"Look, the two boats are anchored to each other. We're just moving the cargo from one to the other. Nothing is going to happen."

The other man sighed, "It's not my funeral if something does."

The two continued on with their task. They hefted a large white box that was suspiciously similar in size to a coffin. They maneuvered it over to the other boat and leaned it against the edge. The over confident man swung over to the other boat.

"Okay, now just lean it over."

As the other man did just as the other said, the box suddenly skated on the edge of the two boats.

"Oh shit!"

The men raced after the box frantically, but by the time they reached the back end, the box fell into the ocean with a heavy splash. Two pairs of eyes widened as the cargo sunk into the dark depth of the ocean. They stared at each other.

"Shishio's going to kill us."

"No. He's going to kill you. I told you. Your funeral."


	2. Pronouns

Author Notes: Do not expect updates to come this quickly. Any of my Inuyasha fic readers could tell you that I am TERRIBLE with updates. I think there was one point where I didn't update for nine months. But I do continue all my fics. Aside from 'QofW,' which is a severe labor of love, I have finished all the fics I have started. Granted, most of them are one-shots, but that's beside the point. Haha.

Anyways, I would like to thank all the people that reviewed and have already added this story on their alert/favorite list. I know the prologue left much to be desired, but I hope you'll slowly come to love and support this story as much as you all have for my one-shots. My chapter will tend to be a little longer than this. Currently, I'm setting up the story, and I'm sure all other fic writers will agree that it's a necessary evil we have to wade through. Tell me what you think!

**Disclaimer: The _Rurouni Kenshin_ world and all characters depicted are a creation of mangaka, Watsuki Nobuhiro.**

**Pronouns**

By Hoshi-ni-Onegai

"Going down to the beach again Koshijiro?"

The older man looked up toward the voice. His handsome and lightly weathered face revealed a smile and nodded, "As usual Tsubaki."

The woman smiled and tossed him a mikan orange. "Just be careful. I don't want you catching a cold from the winter ocean."

He shook his head and yelled back in good humor, "With the amount of vitamin C you throw at me, I don't think I'll ever be sick."

He continued on his way toward the winter beach in question. Koshijiro Kamiya had recently retired from fifty years of working on a shrimp boat. He sold his pride and joy, his fishing boat, to what he deemed the 'next generation.'

Even though he had given up his life on the sea for a more quiet one, he couldn't stay away. His daily morning walks always took him to the beach, regardless of the temperature.

He followed the path down to empty seaside. He couldn't help the contented smile as the cold salty wind washed across his face. The sand sifted under his shoes as he walked toward the water. Standing just barely where the tide ended he gazed out into the ocean. Off in the distance floated shrimp fishing boats, a staple to the island of Oshima.

Koshijiro sighed as his gaze followed the waves. His eyes trailed after a particularly large wave that crashed up on to the shore a good many paces away. He narrowed his eyes as he saw a tangle of stringy black mass sweep up onto the shore. For a brief moment he was convinced it was washed up seaweed, but the moment the water receded he was proven wrong.

He never knew he could run as fast he was running at that moment. The distance between him and the mass shrunk in record time. He kneeled down next to the object and shook its side. "Miss! Miss! Are you alright?"

Swiping the inky threads of raven hair to the side, Koshijiro was met with a pale face of a young woman. She didn't respond to his calls. He was momentarily mesmerized by her delicate stunning features, but shook away his stupor.

He tried to nudge her awake a few more times, then took off his coat and wrapped her in it. Only questions raced through his mind. Why was this girl in the ocean at this time of year? Why was she only wearing what he assumed was a black two-piece bathing suit? Who was she? And more importantly, was she alive?

xXx

"Gone? What do you mean gone?"

Misao sighed at the inquisitive words of the young boy. "They were stolen."

Myojin Yahiko, boy genius extraordinaire, widened his eyes and stood up from his work station that was littered with various mechanical parts. "Stolen! By who?"

She shrugged and gave him a manila folder, "Probably Shishio Makoto. We just need for you to track them."

He grabbed the file and grumbled. He stomped out of the laboratory and headed toward the information hub. Slamming the doors open he stormed over to the two men who were speaking below their breath.

The kinder looking of the two men looked up to see the disgruntled engineer purposefully making his way over to them. Misao continued to trail behind the young boy.

Katsura Kogoro, a man in his early forties, sighed. "I told you not to tell him Misao."

The young woman shrugged and clasped her hand behind her neck, "Now where would be the fun in that?"

Yahiko narrowed his eyes, "You lost them!"

"Stolen."

The boy waved his hands frantically, "It's the same thing! You were the one that said it would safer to transport each one on separate vessels. How did you lose both!"

Kogoro shook his head, "There may be a rat. But before we can figure that out, we have to find them."

Yahiko continued to glare as he made his way toward the computer attached to the main display. Yahiko's fingers flew over the keyboard. An image of the map of Japan was pulled up onto the screen. He took his eyes from the keys to the display, but his fingers didn't stop. "Okay. Only one has been activated, and it's within city limits."

The other man who had remained silent up to this point, spoke up. "One? Where's the other?"

Yahiko glanced at Saito Hajime then back at the screen. "I can only track it, if it's been activated. It's for safety reasons. If they don't release a tracking sensor, then no one can find them. Especially not the enemy."

Kogoro nodded, "I guess we're going to have to cut our losses and track the one that's activated."

Yahiko frowned, "Cut our losses? They were eighteen million dollars a piece!"

"Ouch. Good thing the military is picking up the bill." The three men looked at Misao as she continued to look at the map.

Saito narrowed his eyes, "Go call the combat unit. They need to be briefed on this."

Misao nodded and strolled out of the room.

Kogoro threaded his fingers through his hair in frustration. "So which of the two is activated?"

Yahiko typed in more commands until a window popped open on the display to show a picture of an expressionless young man. "Kilo-tree-niner -romeo-uniform. The Odd."

xXx

Koshijiro was impressed with the fact that he had returned home in record time without anyone asking why he was carrying a half naked girl in his arms. The girl was currently lying in his futon while he filled a kettle with water in the kitchen.

He couldn't really explain why he decided to bring the girl to his house instead of a hospital. After he felt her faint pulse and saw that she was taking the occasional shallow breaths, he found an odd medical-looking bracelet on her left wrist. The bracelet had some sort of barcode stamped on it, but nothing else.

He couldn't think that someone that was recently discharged from the hospital would take a dangerous hypothermic swim in the ocean. He figured that the girl must have gotten mixed up in some business she shouldn't have. Or, it could have been that he recently watched a few too many action spy movies and he was jumping to outrageous conclusions.

While searching through his pantry for tea leaves, he was too distracted to notice the young woman peeking into the kitchen.

"Hello?"

He spun around at hearing her voice. She was dressed in too large sweatpants and a sweatshirt he had set out next the futon. She teetered on her legs as if she was newborn faun and her blue-grey eyes were confused.

"You're awake."

She gave a slight nod and attempted to walk into the kitchen but stumbled forward. Koshijiro darted forward and caught her just in time. He guided her to a chair next to the kitchen table.

She smiled, "Thank you."

"Are you okay?"

She furrowed her brows and nodded slowly, "I... I think so."

He looked the girl over warily, but decided he trusted her enough to turn his back to finish making tea. "So do you know what happened?"

"What happened?"

He glanced back at her, and then continued on with the preparations. "I found you washed up on the beach. I don't know how you survived with the temperature of the water."

She twisted her long inky hair around her fingers. "The beach?"

"I thought you were dead at first."

Her eyes darted around as if she were searching for the answers within her mind. "I have no idea."

After pouring the tea into two mugs, he brought one over to her. "You have no idea how you got in the water?"

Taking the mug she stared into it and shook her head. "No." She stared into his kind eyes, "I have no idea who I am."

xXx

"Never really thought MIRU would slip up this much." A tall man with spiked up dark brown hair mumbled as he leaned against the wall next to his companion.

The shorter red-head narrowed his amber eyes into nightclub crowd. "They were over-confident. They thought that they were untouchable."

The taller man shook his head, "You're becoming too critical of MIRU, Kenshin. That's why they're worried about you."

The man in questioned didn't spare the other a glance as he continued to survey the pulsing room. "If you'd been with them as long as I have, you'd understand Sano."

Sano laughed, "No one has been with them as long as you have."

A rare smirk graced Kenshin's lips. The two fell out of conversation as they watched the crowd. On more than one occasion, a drunk female bar patron stumbled up to them propositioning a dance or sex. Sano humored the women a bit more than his comrade, but turned them all away.

They stood there waiting until a towering man with black hair weaved through the crowd toward them. His voice was barely above a whisper, but the two men against the wall heard him clearly. "The Odd is here with Cho and Kamatari. Upstairs. In the VIP lounge."

Sano grinned, "Good. Three birds with one stone."

Kenshin look up at the black-haired man. "Aoshi, was the Odd hacked?"

"Looks that way."

The redhead nodded and unclipped the holster of his gun. He adjusted his coat around him so that his various weapons stayed hidden. "Alright. This is an extermination mission. Not a retrieval."

A quick beat later, the three men dispersed into the nightclub to take their respective paths to the room.

Kenshin took the most direct route. He was on point for the mission; Sano and Aoshi were only there for support if he needed it. Usually he was a one-man show, but on this particular night Kogoro sent MIRU's entire combat team -Kenshin, Aoshi, and Sano. The eleventh generation of MIRU's unit had fallen into the wrong hands. Kenshin was to destroy him at all costs.

Coming upon the VIP room he put on his best impression of being drunk. Grabbing the doorknob he stumbled into the room. He looked up at the group of people in feigned surprise. "This isn't the bathroom."

A man with spiked up blonde hair, who Kenshin identified as Cho, barked at him. "Get the fuck out you drunk!"

The effeminate one, Kamatari, smiled and sauntered over to Kenshin. "Let's let him stay. He's cute."

Cho pulled away from the fawning drugged out women. "No. Out. This is too much of a sausage fest as it is."

"There's only two of you. Let me have my fun!"

Cho narrowed his eyes, "You count too Kamatari. There's three."

The third man stood up from his place in the corner and walked up to the commotion. He studied the supposedly drunk red-head. Kenshin, in turn, studied the black-haired blue-eyed young man.

The man held an ever present smile, but his eyes showed no sincerity. "I didn't expect to be found so quickly."

Hearing the man's words Kenshin moved into action. He rapidly fired two shots at Cho and Kamatari. His gun was pointed at the other man's forehead at the same time the cold steel of a gun pressed against his.

The man continued to smile. "They weren't kidding about your speed generation Alpha."

Kenshin narrowed his eyes. "You're the combat droid, generation K."

"And you're the prototype."

Kamatari and Cho raised their guns at Kenshin. Kamatari shook his head as he revealed a bulletproof vest, "Should have anticipated this."

"Right back at ya." Sano appeared from the door and raised his gun. Aoshi slipped into the room quickly afterward.

"Oh, generation F and G. Nice of you to join us." The man looked back to Kenshin, "Interesting standoff we have going here."

Cho let out a laugh, "You're all androids? That's rich. It's nice having Sojiro on our side now. You guys are easier to identify."

"Then all the more reason to destroy him," Kenshin pulled the trigger of his gun. Shots rang out into the night.

xXx

Koshijiro dug through his closet until he found the box he had been looking for. Hauling it out, he pulled off the lid and was wafted with the scent of lavender. He smiled. He wondered if her things would ever stop smelling like her.

He found a navy v-neck sweater and a maroon corduroy skirt. Picking up the items he walked toward the bathroom. Knocking on the door he called in, "Uh... miss?"

He heard water sloshing a bit then a response, "Yes?"

"I'm setting clothes out here for you. I think they're pretty close to your size."

"Thank you."

Koshijiro walked away and headed toward the living room. Sitting on the tatami floor he gazed outside. The girl had stayed the night, but her memory was nowhere near jogged. She still had no idea why she was on the beach the day before, or who she was. He had hoped that a good night's rest would trigger at least her name, but she woke up just as confused.

He turned when he heard the light patting of feet in the hall. She tentatively looked into the living room. Seeing the clothes on her, he couldn't help but smile. "You look a lot like my late wife."

She tugged self consciously on the sweater and went to sit opposite Koshijiro at the coffee table. "You were married?"

He nodded and a faraway look crossed his face. "She died in child birth... my daughter passed soon after."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

He smiled, "I think my daughter would have looked a lot like you if she had survived to your age."

The girl nodded, but continued to fidget with the sweater. She rolled the left sleeve up a bit. He glanced down at the wrist for a moment and frowned. "You took the bracelet off."

She looked up at him, "Oh, yeah. It felt weird so I took it off. I've kept it though."

Her right hand wrapped around her left wrist, as if feigning the sensation of the bracelet. That's when Koshijiro caught sight of black markings on her inner wrist. He reached over and flipped her hand over to look at the inking. "What's this?"

She was startled slightly by his warm touch, but allowed her hand to remain in his.

"I don't know. I noticed it while I was taking a bath. I'm not sure if it's supposed to mean anything."

After a moment he noticed that it was multiple letters, dashes, and numbers. It was upside down to him. He scooted around the table to get a closer look.

Clearly printed in black ink was: K-40-RU

He furrowed his brows, "KAORU?"

Her eyes widened and stared at the man.

He smiled, "Is that your name? Kaoru?"

xXx

"You failed?"

The three men glared at Saito who smoked a cigarette in the corner.

"That idiot didn't warn us about the Odd. He said that he was programmed as a fifty percent," Sano barked pointing at the young engineer.

Yahiko frowned from his spot next to Aoshi. He was currently fixing the stoic man's arm. "I did program him at fifty percent. There's no way he could be as fast as you say he was."

"He was." All eyes turned toward Kenshin who stood against the wall with his arms cross and his bangs covering his eyes. "He was almost as fast I was. We're lucky we made it out of there."

Kogoro raised a brow, "You think he might be stronger?"

"I don't know, but we needed to be prepared."

"As in ammunition?"

Kenshin shook his head, "No. Training. You're going to have to call in Hiko."

Saito puffed out more smoke, "They also now know what you look like. The entire MIRU combat squad was compromised."

Kenshin glanced at the man then looked at Yahiko, "We also need to figure out where the Even is."

Yahiko sighed, "It hasn't been activated yet. I can't track it if it hasn't been activated."

"She." Kenshin corrected, "She hasn't been activated yet."

He then pushed off the wall and slipped out of the room. Sano sighed and looked at the frightened Yahiko. "Just watch your pronouns around him. You know how he feels about being seen as an object."

The boy nodded hesitantly and finished off fixing Aoshi's arm. Sano and Aoshi followed after Kenshin and left the room.

After they were out of earshot Yahiko sighed, "I can't believe I just did that."

Kogoro smiled, "Don't worry. We all do."

The young engineer shook his head, "I build and program androids for a living. I should know not to slip up."

Saito rolled his eyes, "No matter what they think, they are objects."

Yahiko sighed, "That's the thing. They think. I programmed them to act and react, but they think. They're not like simple objects. You can't predict how they're going to act."

Kogoro chuckled, "I'm more worried about figuring out what they feel. Nothing makes things messier than emotions."


	3. The Recruit

Author Notes: I know, I know. My updates are ridiculously slow. It's a crime how slow they come, really. I am still setting up the story and things are still left unexplained. Our heroes to finally meet though. As always, enjoy and please review!

**Disclaimer: The _Rurouni Kenshin_ world and all characters depicted are a creation of mangaka, Watsuki Nobuhiro.**

**The Recruit**

By Hoshi-ni-Onegai

"I don't get it. It's been three years." Yahiko sighed as he continued to work on the mechanisms on Misao's back.

The young droid gave the engineer a sideways glance. "Get what?"

"The Even hasn't been activated yet. What are they waiting for?"

Misao shrugged in response. "Maybe they figured out how to take the tracking device out, like they did for the Odd."

Yahiko frowned, "Then why haven't they acted? Shouldn't they be terrorizing the streets with both our generation K units in their control?"

He turned a bolt a bit to the right and Misao gave a sigh of relief. "There it is. I've had that crick in my back for a week now."

The boy shook his head as he removed the scope and tools from her back. "You're an intelligence model. You can't push yourself like the combat models."

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, because being a spy means I never run into trouble."

He sighed, "Just take it easy, or you're going end up like Kenshin as a mishmash of parts."

Sitting up, she pulled her shirt down and hopped down from the examination table. "He gets every part replaced except for his heart core."

"Don't even get me started on that."

"He's going to stop working soon."

Yahiko scratched his head, "Yeah, I know. And with MIRU not getting the clearance to design new droids until we destroy or recover generation K, we're going to be down a combat model."

The conversation was interrupted when a familiar tall man opened the door. He studied the two for a moment, then his eyes landed on the young female. "Misao."

She grinned at seeing the man and rushed up to him. "Aoshi!"

He gestured for her to follow, "We have an assignment."

She continued to smile and waved to Yahiko on her way out. As the young engineer was left alone in the lab, he shook his head. "You weren't even designed for him." He glanced at the spec charts on the wall and sighed, "Maybe I don't have all of you as figured out as I think."

xXx

The slamming of books echoed through the otherwise silent library. A young woman with long black hair tied up in a pony tail grimaced slightly at the noise. The middle aged librarian was startled by the noise, but then frowned when she saw who caused it. "Let's try to be a little quieter next time Miss Kamiya."

Kaoru sheepishly smiled, "Sorry."

"They're due back in three weeks." Stamping the inside flap of the books she slide them across the counter toward Kaoru, "But going by your track record, they'll be back within the week."

She shoved three books into her tote and balanced the other two in her arms. Nodding to the librarian she headed out. "See you within the week then."

Shoving her back against the door, Kaoru fumbled out of the frequented library. As she juggled her tote, an armful of books, and a large coffee, her cell phone rang. She groaned as she miraculously whipped it out without losing a drop of coffee or a book.

Without even looking at the caller id she answered, "Hey dad."

The familiar voice of Koshijiro filtered through the receiver, "Are you eating right?"

Kaoru laughed at the question. Her adoptive father had the tendency to over worry and skip pleasantries with her. "Yes dad. I'm eating just fine."

She could hear the frown in his voice, "Is that your third cup of coffee?"

Startled by his question she looked frantically around her. "Can you see me or something?"

"I knew it. You need to drink more water and less coffee."

She smiled at her worrywart father's comment. "I don't get enough sleep to not drink coffee. It's not like it's going to stunt my growth. I'm twenty-oneish for god sakes."

"You're twenty-one. No ishes about it."

Kaoru continued to smile. Her father of three years treated her like she was his very own. There wasn't a moment after he "named" her that she didn't feel like she belonged. Her lack of personal history stopped bothering her a few weeks after being taken in as a stray. There was no missing person's report, so she figured that whoever lost her didn't miss her. Better to be the daughter of a man who graciously gave his kindness, than a family who didn't come looking for her.

When Kaoru had agreed to move to Tokyo to pursue a fellowship, she had no idea how much she would miss him and the island. She had spent the last three years of her life on the sparsely populated island of Oshima. She was pretty sure the average age on Oshima was sixty-five, but she had gotten to know all the elder residents and listened to their stories of the glory days.

There really weren't that many of her age, if there were any, they were already manning the shrimp fishing boats. And being as she was completely new to the world in her mind, she decided to learn. She set out to earn a college a degree through distance learning. That's when she realized her memory-less brain worked as a sponge. Her father rationalized that it was because she had nothing else filling it, but she thought otherwise. So in the course of three years, she mastered every language she took a swing at: English, French, Chinese, Spanish, Korean, German, Arabic, Russian, and she was currently flirting with the idea of picking up Hebrew.

Regardless of the fact that she washed up on to a sleepy town's shore, she was fascinated with crime. She wasn't sure what triggered it. There were only two police officers on the entire island, and they had way too much time their hands. But she applied for Tokyo University's distance education program and majored in criminal psychology and statistical data analysis. What she didn't realize was that she would have an inherent knack for the subjects. The university contacted her after a research paper she submitted during her second year. Now, she was on the main campus working through a government fellowship and working on her thesis: "The use of chatter to decipher terrorist minds and intentions."

Koshijiro couldn't have been prouder of his daughter, regardless of the unconventional topic choice. "So any government recruits today?"

She laughed into the phone, "Not today. I did get a call from the American CIA yesterday. I don't know why they're so persistent. Why would you want a foreigner collecting intelligence information for your country?"

"Just be careful. I've seen those movies. People with talents and information get kidnapped and you never see them again."

She grinned, "You really need to lay off those spy movies dad."

xXx

Within the information hub at MIRU, Saito, and Kogoro, and two female droids could be seen mulling over phone transcripts.

"If we don't move soon, the CIA is going to get her."

Kogoro frowned at Megumi, the older of the two females. "Her only relative is in Japan. I can't think she'll pick up and leave for America."

Saito lit a cigarette and puffed the smoke onto the document he was reading. "Who is she?"

Tsubame, the other droid, began to rattle off facts. "Kamiya Kaoru. Female. Born January 5th. Age: 21. Height: 155cm. Weight: 41kg. She was born and raised on Oshima by her widowed father, Kamiya Koshijiro. Currently a student at Tokyo University studying criminal psychology and statistical data analysis. Fluent in eight languages, proficient in one. Although still young, she is the leading expert on deciphering enemy chatter in Japan."

Saito frowned at the young girl, "The more you act like a computer, the more I'm going to treat you like one."

Tsubame ducked her head. Megumi glared at the man, "It's not her fault she's a zero percent, and an analyst model. You ask for something, she's programmed to give it."

Saito narrowed his eyes at the woman. Before he could snap at her Kogoro raised his hand in front of the group. "Stop. We're on the topic of this girl. Do we recruit her?"

Megumi sighed, "Better to have her working for us than another agency, country, or maybe even enemy."

Kogoro nodded, "Then we'll send a droid for retrieval."

Saito raised a brow, "How is she relevant or useful to us?"

Megumi rolled her eyes, "She may not be a droid, but she'd be part of the analyst unit."

He smirked, "Which tells you that humans can easily replace droids. We don't really need you."

Kogoro gave the other man a pointed look, and then looked at Megumi. "Go tell Kenshin to find this girl and bring her in."

Megumi was surprised to hear the man's name, but nodded and left the room with a file. She sighed as she walked down the halls toward the training room. The clashing of steel was already ringing in her ears before she even opened the door.

Cracking the door open, she was met with the rare sight of sword practice. In an age when a bullet could cause more damage from a longer distance, it had pretty much eliminated the use of swords and other classical weapons. However, Hiko the droids' combat trainer was an old fashioned guy. He was under the impression that there was no harm in learning how to use all types of weapons, and that the sword especially instilled discipline. Megumi wondered how much more discipline programmed androids could possibly have.

After a few tense moments and deft moves from both parties, their blades locked in a stalemate. Kenshin, without sparing her a glance and keeping his eyes on his trainer and his blade, spoke up. "What is it?"

She lifted the folder and waived it slightly at him, "An assignment."

"Urgent?"

She nodded, "ASAP."

Hearing the acronym, both men relaxed their muscles and stepped away. Hiko rolled his eyes and walked to the other side of the room. He was not one to delve into the messy world of MIRU and their assignments. He was hired to train the droids, nothing else. There was never a time when Kogoro had crossed the line and asked for him take part. No, the blood was left to be spilt by artificial hands not human ones.

Kenshin walked over to the other droid with sword still in hand. Taking the file he skimmed its contents. He raised a speculative look toward the woman.

"A girl? Why am I being sent on a simple retrieval?" He handed the file back to her, "Send Misao instead."

Megumi sighed, "You're not going to get that many more big missions, and eventually they'll stop sending you all together. They're worried about your heart core. You should get it replaced."

"And give MIRU the satisfaction? I have a right to retire and die."

Her voice was slightly pleading, "Yeah, except you would retire and then die immediately afterwards. It's not going to last much longer."

Hearing the conversation, Hiko walked up to the pair. He gave his redheaded pupil a stern look, "Don't be stubborn. Fourteen years is barely a life. What's a few more decades?"

Kenshin turned to put away his sword. "What's the point?"

xXx

Flicking the lights on in her tiny studio apartment Kaoru sighed as she dropped her books and bag on the floor with an audible "thunk." Peeling off her shoes, socks, and skirt, she tugged on the worn pair of jeans she had draped over her desk chair by the door. Tugging off her shirt she grabbed a navy hoodie as she bee lined her way to her bed and fell face first on her cream comforter.

It had felt like an excruciatingly long day at school. She mentally groaned. School? It was more like work. Her entire day was spent listening to enemy chatter and analyzing it. She then proceeded to explain her analysis to the pretentious French exchange student. He barely listened and constantly contradicted her. On top of that, it was all in French. Kaoru wondered how she suddenly got suckered into becoming a teacher/translator.

And to make her day worse, there was someone in her apartment. She had the unexplainable sixth sense of knowing when people were near her without actually seeing them. This stranger was currently tucked in the dark corner behind her closet door, and doing a comparably phenomenal job of hiding himself. Too bad she felt him there anyways.

Kaoru turned her face toward her closet, "I know someone's here. Come on out."

There was no movement until finally the figure pushed the closet door out of his way.

She raised a brow at what she found. A short man in his early twenties with long red hair and piercing amber eyes stood before her. She was taken aback by his unusual coloring, but his face was distinctly Japanese. Kaoru suspected for a moment if the pretty man was actually a pretty woman, but the scar on his cheek and his slim but firm physical build told her otherwise.

Sitting up, she gave the man a slow once over. He was dressed head to toe in black and wore a black trench coat. Either he was late for a funeral or he was a vampire. She cocked her head to the side and considered him for a moment longer. "Do I know you?"

The man narrowed his eyes and frowned, "How did you know I was here? And why did you change if you knew I was?"

"Your... aura? Didn't seem that threatening to me," Kaoru rolled her eyes. "Also, ever try to defend yourself in skirt? Kinda hard."

"Aura?"

Shrugging she stood up and made her way toward the fridge, "Sixth sense? I don't know. I can usually tell when people are sneaking up on me. Anyways, you have a particular draw to you."

"Are you flirting with me?"

"Yeah right. With the guy that broke into my apartment?" Peaking up from the fridge she deftly tossed a bottle of water at him. He caught it and studied it. Seeing his speculative gaze she smirked, "It's poisoned."

He frowned, "You're lying."

"Obviously. I don't know what line of work you're in, but I don't leave ready poisoned bottles of water in my fridge." Plopping down on the edge of the bed she broke the seal of her own water bottle. "So what can I help you with lone stranger? What are you? FBI? Interpol? Or are you the CIA here to pester me again?"

He leaned against the wall directly in front of her line of vision. "So I'm not the first guy to show up in your apartment unannounced."

"Not the first, and won't be the last." Taking a long gulp of water she grinned, "So what are you?"

Reaching into the inner pocket of his trench, he pulled out an envelope. "I have your first six months of your salary if you agree to work for our unit."

"You're going to have to be a little more specific than 'salary' or 'unit.'"

He tossed her the envelope. Her eyes widened by the sheer heft of it. Either this was all in small bills, or this was an outrageously generous offer. Pulling out the thick stack of money she whipped her eyes to the man. "You have got to be kidding me."

"Do you accept the offer?"

Kaoru allowed her thumb to brush against the edge of the bills. Her eyes widened further, "Twenty-five million yen! For six months?"

He narrowed his eyes. There was no way she could have figured out the sum in this short of time. "Do you accept the offer?"

She was the one to narrow her eyes this time, "Look buddy. I don't even know what agency you're coming from or what government you're working for. I can't just blindly say yes."

"The Japanese government. As for the agency... that's classified. You can know after you accept."

She sighed, "And if I say no, I never find out? Now I feel like I have to say yes for the sake of my curiosity."

"So yes?"

Sarcasm was obviously lost to this man. Kaoru stood up to return the envelope to him when a loud crash of broken glass took her attention. Both apartment occupants reacted and flinched back from the spray of shattered glass from the balcony door. A smiling young man with dark hair calmly stepped forward from the wreckage.

The newest intruder took in Kaoru's form, then the black-clad red head. "Looks like you beat me to the punch." The man grinned, "Hey sis."

Kaoru raised a brow; this was a very eventful recruitment night for her. She glanced at the red head, "Friend of yours?"

"Not exactly." Without wasting another second, he grabbed her by the wrist and sprinted out the front door. Bullets hit the wall right outside the door the moment they turned down the hall. "Try to keep up Kaoru."

Her bare feet slapped against the floor as she stared wide-eyed back at her apartment. The dark haired man rushed out the door following them. Kaoru lost sight of the gun totting stranger as she was pulled down the stairwell to the next floor.

She took the opportunity to yell at the short red head, "Who the hell was that?"

The man continued to drag her along. He made quick work of the stairs and made his way onto the next floor. Dashing down the hall and a cutting corner, Kaoru could hear gun shots trailing just behind her. If she was going to die she wanted some answers. "What is going on!"

"We're jumping." He looped an arm around her waist and looked down from the balcony they came upon at the end of the hall.

Kaoru tried to tug away from the possibly clinically insane recruiting agent. "Are you nuts? We're on the fifth floor!"

Barely allowing a moment to pass, he leapt over the railing and they were soon free falling their way down the building. Her screams caught within her throat. How had she gone from normal college student to pair suicides with a complete stranger?

Right when she saw the ground rush up to her and her world coming to a bitter end, they landed softly on the ground. His knees took in the impact like a skilled cat jumping off a high shelf. Kaoru was grateful, but this added to how strange this man really was.

Shots continued to chase them as he dragged her down empty city blocks. She had yet to feel a single bullet pierce her skin. Either the other guy was a lousy shot or her current guardian was evading them very well. Turning into an alley, he jumped onto a motorcycle that was hidden behind a dumpster. Shoving the helmet toward her he started the engine.

"Get on!"

Kaoru didn't need to be told twice. The gun happy man was due any minute as he was hot on their trail. Sitting directly behind the red head she wrapped her arms around his waist. A spark flashed by her head as another round of gun shots started.

"He's trying to kill us!"

The motorcycle revved up and they were peeling out of the other end of alley. "He's not trying to kill you."

Kaoru frowned as another round was shot into the night. "His gun and the bullets whizzing past my face says otherwise."

The red head shook his head. "He's trying kill me, not you."

"What! You're going to get me killed then!" She grabbed on tighter, "God, I knew I should have never left Oshima. I should have married a nice shrimp fisherman and popped out a dozen babies so that I could save the aging population. I should have listened to my father and never have left."

"And miss out on all of this?"

She could hear the slight humor in his voice and was not appreciating it. There was a time and place for lightheartedness, and this was not it. Kaoru took in deep breaths as they took a highway ramp and weaved their way through traffic. The crazy man with the gun was no longer within range and she was finally gathering her frazzled nerves.

The deep smooth voice of the stranger swept toward her, "So do you accept?"

She measured his efforts of the night and her tight grip around his middle. The bizarre turn of events had completely chased the offer out of her mind, but she felt the heavy weight of the envelope from earlier in her hoodie pocket. She was raised by a frugal fisherman, she couldn't just leave the money lying around. Either she was returning it to the man, or it was going straight to the bank.

Kaoru considered her options, and the red head seemed like the best one -if not the only one. "Will you keep me alive?"

"Yes." He didn't hesitate. His voice was firm and oddly comforting to her.

"Then I accept." She sighed and leaned her helmet covered head on his back. How was she going to explain this to her father?


	4. Lost and Found

Author Notes: This is probably record time for a chapter update for me. Don't expect this to be normal. I'm just currently in a writing kind of mood and updates are a result of that.

Also, I would like to take the time out to say 'thank you' to all my RK fiction reviewers. There really is not motivating factor to write fanfiction without reviews. It is a very lonely world without a comment back and you have no idea how encouraging each and every one of you are. My other fic (Inuyasha fic that is) 'Quadrille of War,' has readers but no real reviewers. I am outrageously grateful for the 2 or 3 people who do, but my RK readers (ironically) are the reason why I even keep writing that fic.

Thank you, and enjoy the chapter that was sped out for all of you.

**Disclaimer: The _Rurouni Kenshin_ world and all characters depicted are a creation of mangaka, Watsuki Nobuhiro.**

**Lost and Found**

By Hoshi-ni-Onegai

Kaoru held on for dear life around the trim waist of the enigmatic redhead. She couldn't deny that she was impressed by his maneuverability skills on the motorcycle, but she wasn't about to forgive the bullets that were aimed in her direction moments earlier.

How exactly was he weaving through traffic without clipping his bike against all the cars? Suddenly, he took a sharp turn and sprinted off the exit ramp. She glared at the back of his helmetless head. Did he really need to drive so fast and recklessly?

Glancing at the exit sign she frowned. Shibuya? What were they doing in the fashion and nightlife district of Tokyo?

Zipping through the throngs of people, he miraculously avoided running anyone over. Peeling into an impossibly narrow alley, Kaoru gripped his waist to the point where she wondered if she would damage his internal organs. The wall at the end of the alley was only getting closer and he was revving the engine to speed down at full throttle.

She couldn't believe it. Just after he had put in the effort to save her life, he was now going to kill her by driving into a wall. When they were barely a foot away from the uncompromising cement wall, it suddenly compromised. The wall swung back like a pet door and they were engulfed in darkness.

He stopped the engine of the bike and peered back at the girl who was gripping him like her life depended on it. In the darkness he could see her shaken form and smirked a bit. He was startled when her expressive eyes whipped up toward him and glared. "You almost got me killed."

Furrowing his brows he grasped her wrists with his hands to peel her away. There was no way she could see in the total darkness, it just gave the impression she could because she just so happened to be looking in the straight direction of his eyes.

His voice penetrated the darkness, but it was not an answer to her indignation. "Alpha-too-wun-romeo-uniform."

A bright flash filled the room. Kaoru blinked in reaction, but her eyes quickly adjusted. Her eyes scanned the very small and narrow room -if you could call it that. The walls, ceiling, and even the floor was made of what looked to be mirrors. There were no doors. She turned to look at the wall from which they came. It was seamless, as if it never opened. It was also transparent.

"What the-"

"It's a one-way mirror."

She frowned at the man who still grasped her wrists. "Then wouldn't that mean the outside can see us and we can't see them? It's bright in here, not out there."

He shrugged, "It's slightly modified."

Kaoru nodded, she figured there was no use arguing with him. She was a simple college student; he was the mysterious government agent. She moved to stand up, a motion that caused her wrists to turn upward while still within his grip.

He glanced down for a moment to let go, but the clear black letters printed on her inner wrist caught his eye. Immediately tugging her forward, he examined the letters and numbers. Kaoru collided into his back, which should have jostled him forward but he remain unmoved.

"What the heck is wrong with you?" Kaoru attempted to pull her left wrist away.

He pulled his disbelieving eyes away from scrutinizing the serial code printed clearly on her otherwise unmarred alabaster skin. Catching her gaze he whispered out, "You're the lost even."

Kaoru raised a confused brow, "And you're a little odd."

xXx

"I don't know what to tell you," the young engineer stated.

Kogoro frowned at Yahiko's response. "Can't you just program him to do it?"

The boy let out a groan, he sometimes felt like a broken record. "I can only program them before they're activated. It's for security reasons -so they can't be stolen and reprogrammed."

The man raised a brow, "How do you explain the generation K units?"

"The odd -or Soujiro- was programmed before he was activated." Yahiko shot his superior a glare, "It wasn't my bright idea to have the units delivered with their activation key with them."

Kogoro sighed, "They were being sent directly on an assignment. They needed to be activated on the spot by the combat team."

"We obviously won't be making that thirty-six million dollar mistake ever again."

The older man gave the boy a pointed look. He was about to bring up another issue when the doors to the laboratory slammed open. He looked up to see a stern and particularly angry redhead dragging a comically confused black haired beauty into the room.

"I knew I could count on you." Kogoro glanced at Yahiko, "Maybe we should have him do all our deliveries from now on."

Yahiko rolled his eyes and continued to fiddle with a mechanical device on his desk.

The redhead glared and swung his arm forward with Kaoru still attached. He shoved the girl toward the older man. "Would you care to explain?"

Kogoro considered the girl for a moment then tilted his head to look at the perturbed droid. "She's very pretty."

Kaoru blushed at the comment but the redhead's frown only grew deeper. "That's not what I'm asking."

"She'll join the intelligence unit today." Seeing the frustrated glare from the short droid Kogoro added, "Alongside Megumi and Tsubame, not Aoshi and Misao -she won't be going out on the field."

The redhead gave what sounded a bit like a growl. Yahiko actually looked up from his work when he heard the odd noise. This droid was always calm and collected. He never let his visage slip, and he most definitely did not growl -not like Sano.

"Are you okay Ke-" Yahiko's words were cut off with the angered redhead.

"If this is your idea of matching me up again, I don't appreciate it."

The two men paused and soaked in his words. Kaoru looked as confused as ever, but wrote it off as internal agency issues. She had just joined the 'unit,' as her insane savior had put it, half an hour ago. She wasn't about to butt into things she knew nothing about.

Seeing the perplexed looks on their faces, he grabbed Kaoru's left wrist and roughly tugged it forward and before them. "You should have warned me I was after the even."

Kogoro's eyes widened. Yahiko's mouth gaped open. Kaoru frowned and glanced back at the man who was gripping her hand a tad too tight. "There you go calling me 'the even' again. Look, I'm not sure if I'm even, you're odd, and he's a fraction, but I'm going to need a bit of an explanation."

Ignoring her words Yahiko traced his fingers along the black print. He shook his head in disbelief and stared at Kogoro. "This is impossible. She hasn't been activated. How is she moving?"

Kogoro eyes widened further. He considered the situation for a brief moment, and then looked at the girl. "Who are you?"

Kaoru expression became more confused than before -if such a thing were possible. "I'm Kamiya Kaoru. Your agent came to recruit me."

Hearing the response, Kogoro laid a hand on Yahiko's shoulder in a signal to not say a word. He looked directly at the male droid. "Take Miss Kamiya to your quarters and come straight back. I need to discuss something with you." He gave a kind smile to the girl, "I know you just got here and you're confused but I have dire matters to get to right away."

Kaoru spared him a suspicious glance but nodded and followed the already retreating redheaded form out the door. She picked up her speed and followed him out the door and down various halls. He didn't say a word as he continued on.

She figured conversation wouldn't hurt so decided to try to strike one up. "Why are you guys located in Shibuya? All the other government agencies are located in Shinjuku."

His attention remained forward but he replied curtly, "It's impossible to call attention to yourself in Shibuya, it's always crowded."

She nodded. It seemed like a logical explanation. Being as she still unaware of what agency this was she decided to venture on that question. After all that was the deal, if she accepted she was allowed to find out. "What agency is this?"

Stopping before a steel door with simple capital 'A' laser etched into it, the man glimpsed at the girl. "MIRU."

Kaoru raised a brow, "MIRU? I've never heard of that agency. And trust me, I know pretty much every agency within the Japanese government."

He looked directly at her to catch her reaction, "Military Intelligence Robotic Unit. MIRU for short. It's a classified unit. Not even the prime minister knows about us."

She smirked, "I think you have the wrong girl. I'm no computer wiz. I hope they're not expecting me to build a robot or something."

He gauged her response with his calculating eyes. Eyes that she couldn't help but twitch under. This man managed to get under her skin in a way no one ever had. She wasn't sure if she liked it.

Seeing no indication of deceit, Kenshin turned away and laid his right palm on a square panel to the right of the door. He gestured her inside, "Make yourself at home. There is vodka in the freezer and coffee beans in the cupboards."

She was about to question his choice of offerings, but thought of something better to ask when he turned away to leave. "What's your name anyway?"

He paused in his step and locked his amber eyes with her steel blue ones. "Kenshin."

The metal door slid shut at that moment and Kaoru sighed. She glanced around the room. It looked more like a hotel room more than anything else. She wondered if his offer of making herself at home was sarcastic or sincere. What she wondered more about was his mention of vodka.

Making her way to the small kitchen in the corner of what looked like a studio apartment, she peeked inside the freezer. Sitting on its side was not only one bottle of vodka, but six. Pulling out the bottle that was a quarter empty she shook her head. "I know it's been a long night, but hard liquor?"

xXx

Strolling into the conference room Sano raised a brow. Everyone was here. Not that the organization was very large, but all eleven members were accounted for.

Megumi rolled her eyes at him as he plopped down in the vacant seat between her and Kenshin. "You're late... again."

Shrugging he grabbed bottle of beer that sat clustered in the middle of the table. Snapping the cap off, he took a large gulp. Wiping his lips with the back of his hand, Sano smirked at Kenshin. "Do you know what's going on here?"

The older droid spared him a glance, but gave no inclination of an answer. Sano frowned, Kenshin was being more taciturn than usual. He was about to question the red head, but Kogoro drew the attention of the group to the front.

"This isn't a regular meeting." The head of the agency looked over his group, "I'm not going to beat around the bush. The generation K even was recovered."

Hushed gasps went through the room, except for Saitou and Hiko -they didn't care either way.

Sano let out a low whistle and leaned toward Kenshin, "No wonder we're having the meeting here. All of us never have to meet at once."

When his friend didn't respond, he sighed. There was something bothering the guy, and past experience told him that the best course of action was to leave him alone. He decided to conspire with Megumi instead; it was more fun bugging her anyways.

Tae, the unit's underground headquarters' housekeeper, spoke up. "I don't have a room ready for her."

Misao shrugged and leaned back in her chair. "She's probably still in the box. Take your time, we'll activate her when you're ready."

Tae considered the girl's words and nodded. Kogoro, however, shook his head. "She's not activated, but she's out of her box."

An equally confused expression spread through the crowd. Yahiko, unable to contain himself any longer, stood up. "She's moving. She's functioning. But she's not activated."

Misao frowned, "Wait, what do you mean?"

Yahiko raised his hands to gesture, but paused. Glancing at the six droids in the room he took in a steady breath. Locking eyes with Kenshin, Yahiko's voice was surprisingly firm. "She thinks she's human."

xXx

Kaoru stared at the ceiling. This was turning into the longest day of her life. By habit she woke up at five -something she picked up from her elderly father. Her days started with a three kilometer run, and then she was off to school by six thirty.

Bringing her watch up to eye level she sighed. It was rolling around to be four in the morning and the mystery man had yet to come back. She only had a few hours until she needed to head back to class to deal with the Parisian exchange student.

While trying to map out how she was going to get to class without being late, the door silently slid open. Kenshin stopped in his tracks at seeing the girl still awake and lounging on his bed.

He continued to watch her until she spoke up, "I know you're there Kenshin."

Slipping into the room the door shut behind him. It was the first time she had said his name and it sounded odd. It wasn't that she was pronouncing it incorrectly; there was just a ring to it that was a bit off.

Sitting up from her place on the slightly wrinkled bedspread, she sighed. "Finally. Where were you?"

He considered her for a moment longer then headed to the fridge. "I thought you would have gone to sleep."

Watching as he pulled out the vodka bottle she shrugged, "I felt weird sleeping your room."

Pouring a tall glass he turned toward her. The look on her face told him that she thought his undiluted drink was odd. Taking a large sip he looked her over. Nothing about her revealed that she was a droid, then again all droids within the unit were like that. Even now, after finding out who she was, he still could not tell. He wondered if this was how people saw him. Did the regular passerby on the street see him as completely normal? Blending into a sea of human faces? Probably not with his fiery red hair. He had always wondered why he was the only one with ostentatious hair, when everyone else was a discreet black. If anything, dark hair would have been easier to hide.

Kenshin continued to study her, and Kaoru was all too aware of his gaze. She squirmed. She couldn't deny that this guy was weird. Previously, he had been friendly enough and even acted coy, but now he was cold and unreadable. The moment he saw her tattoo, things had changed. From the way he was looking at her, there was obviously something that unnerved him about her.

"Do you want a change of clothes?"

At his sudden question she locked eyes with him. She considered it for a moment then shook her head, "No, I'll just go like this to class."

Downing the last of his glass, he set it on the counter. Walking toward the couch that faced away from the bed, he sat down and unbutton his shirt. "What class?"

She frowned, "At Tokyo University? I can't be late. There's this annoying French kid there that needs a translator and babysitter."

He shook his head as he pulled off his black button down, "You're not leaving HQ."

"Excuse me?"

Tugging off his boots and socks he stood to unbuckle his belt. "You can't go to class. You can't leave the compound."

Standing up from the bed she stalked over to him. "That wasn't part of the deal."

Raising a brow he pulled down his pants, "What deal?"

Kaoru blushed at seeing that he was now only in his boxers. She shook it off as he walked to his dresser and pulled out a pair of sweats and tugged them on. "You can't hold me hostage here. I have a life."

At her words he paused, then continued pulling out an extra blanket from the closet. Grabbing one of two pillows on the bed he made his way back over to her and the couch.

"I'm not holding you hostage. This is for your protection."

"My protection? What, the guy with the gun? You're the one who said he was aiming at you."

Tossing the pillow on the end of the couch, he sat down and looked up at her. "He may not kill you, but you won't be safe."

Her eyes widened at his words, "What's happening?"

Seeing the very much human emotion of fear in her eyes, he sighed. "I suggest you go to sleep. Don't worry about class, Kogoro will take care of everything."

His tone was meant to be comforting, but there was a distant edge to it. However, she was getting sleepy and tired; and from the looks of things, she was being offered his bed. Taking his token of kindness she nodded and walked back to the waiting mattress.

"We'll explain everything when you wake up. Just try to get some sleep." Leaning back he laid his head on the pillow and pulled on the blanket. As Kenshin made himself comfortable, he called back to her, "Hit the switch next to the bed whenever you're ready."

Kaoru contemplated his reassurances and decided that it was probably the best course of action. Pulling back the covers, she considered her clothes and imagined them being uncomfortable to sleep in. Unbuttoning and pushing down her jeans, she slipped into the cool cotton sheets.

Reaching for the light switch she whispered out, "Good night."

Kenshin allowed his eyes to finally close after the room was enveloped in darkness and her tentative words echoed through the air.

xXx

Her lungs burned. Her heart felt like it was going to explode. Snapping her eyes opened she only saw darkness. Where was she?

She tried bringing her hand up to her face, but she couldn't move. Nothing moved. It was as if she was laying in a mold of her own body. Within a cocoon of a spongy material she tried to breathe. Nothing sustaining filled her body. She was within a nest that would kill her.

Her life was slipping from her. She was... young? Searching her mind, she came to nothing. Was she young? How did she get here? Who was she before this very moment?

Pushing all of her strength into her legs, she leveraged them and kicked. The cocoon budged a bit, but not enough. She continued to flail. She would be damned if she died like this; died before she remembered who she was.

Her prison gave way and water surrounded her. The biting cold was like pins and needles. Going from one darkness to another, she did what her body told her to. Her legs kicked, her arms stroked. Her strength was waning as she caught site of the surface. The trickling light teased her, out of reach. She screamed.

"Kaoru! Wake up! Kaoru!"

Heaving a gasping breath, her eyes flung open. They immediately focused on a pair of worried amber ones that loomed over her. Her body trembled, her mind whirled.

Stroking her hair in attempt to calm her, Kenshin spoke softly. "Calm down. You're safe. I'm here."

Hearing the reassuring words she pulled down the male figure by his neck. He was surprised by the unexpected action. Her arms wrapped around him like a frightened child and he reacted involuntarily. Lying down next to her, he cradled her within his arms.

After a tense few minutes, ger breathing circulated normally and she fell asleep. Her warm skin seeped into him. For the first time since he was activated, he was lulled to a deep sleep.


	5. I know you are, but what am I?

Author Notes: It's been a little over a month since my last update. I'm not sure why it took me so long to start writing. I'm not even joking. I didn't even touch this chapter until about four days ago. It wasn't that difficult to write this chapter, I had it pretty much figured out for a while now. I think it's just pure laziness that prevented an update. Then again, last time I updated the BP oil spill was already in progress (what is going on over there?).

Anyways, thanks to all the reviewers and readers. A lot of you have been pointing out "holes" in the story, but please be aware that we're ONLY 5 chapters in. My past long chapter fic readers can tell you, 5 chapters is still in the very early stages. Don't worry, I am someone will not leave things unanswered. Things may not get answered until much much later, but it will be. Just bare with me. Now, enjoy the few questions answered and more questions raised. Peace.

**Disclaimer: The _Rurouni Kenshin_ world and all characters depicted are a creation of mangaka, Watsuki Nobuhiro.**

**I know you are, but what am I?**

By Hoshi-ni-Onegai

Rolling over, the crumpled sheet twisted around her body. Stretching her arms up, she blinked slowly as sleep escaped her. Her blue eyes quickly focused on her surroundings. She was momentarily surprised, but the events of the previous day seeped back into her mind.

Groaning, Kaoru sat up. The red head who decided to ruin her life in the span of night was nowhere to be seen. The room didn't have any windows, but the lights were on. She frowned; he obviously didn't care if he woke her up or not. A little bit of consideration would have been nice on his part -regardless of the fact that she never woke up when lights were turned on.

Slipping off the bed she walked over to the closet that the mystery man had pulled clothes out the night before. She had been wary of helping herself to his room, but being she seemed to be trapped in it, she was going to make herself at home.

Glancing down at her state of dress, or undress as the case was, she rummaged through the drawers. Being that her clothes weren't exactly fresh yesterday when she put them on, she was in desperate need of clean clothes.

Pulling out what she deemed wearable and mildly appropriate, she marched over to what she found as the bathroom the day before. There was no way she smelled pleasant. A shower would also help her sort her thoughts -something she desperately needed to do.

xXx

"Who cares? She's just a machine."

Kenshin glared at the cigarette toting Saitou. "She doesn't know that."

Kogoro sighed and stepped between the two. "I know how you feel Kenshin, but we're going to eventually have to activate her."

Kenshin shook his head, "We don't even know what will happen to her. She might lose all her memories."

Saitou rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair. "What, three years worth? She'll relearn everything with a software upload."

Yahiko scratched his head as he continued to study her blueprint. "I still have no idea how she's moving. There is no way any droid can be walking and talking without being activated."

"I don't see why we can't leave her the way she is. Her intelligence is functioning the same way a droid's would. She's probably physically agile too."

"Kenshin, it's just too dangerous. What if she fell into the wrong hands? She could be reprogrammed then activated. Then she's completely out of our control." Kogoro patted the short droid on the shoulder, "She'd end up like her brother."

"But she's not like any of us right now. She thinks she's human. She has a father, a hometown, but no mission. She just lives day by day, hoping for a future."

Saitou puffed out a drag, "You're romanticizing being human."

He glared at the man, "Then why don't you give up your humanity for hers? I hear cyborg technology is advancing amazingly."

Seeing the death match sparking forward, Yahiko spoke up. "Look, I'm not activating her until I figure out how she's even functioning right now."

Hearing the young engineer's words, Kenshin momentarily calmed. Nodding his thanks, the droid left out the laboratory doors.

Saitou directed a pointed look at Yahiko, "Why are you buying it time?"

"Because I'm not about the reboot a technological miracle." He shrugged, "If the impossible blue rose blossoms, you don't just chop it off because it didn't come out red like the rest of the bush. You try to figure it out genetically and see where you went wrong and nature went right."

Putting out his cigarette, Saitou frowned. "There's nothing natural about them."

xXx

Placing his palm on the panel, the door slid open to a seemingly empty room. Kenshin frowned as he stepped into his room. The bed was still rumpled and there was a trail of clothes winding a path to his bathroom.

He sighed as he picked up a sweatshirt, t-shirt, bra, and panties. She obviously wasn't demure -not that he could say anything. He figured it was something common among the droids. It was as if they weren't programmed to be bashful or modest.

He dumped the discarded clothes in a hamper within his closet. Making his way over to the kitchen, he pulled out coffee beans from the cupboard. As he went about preparing the coffee maker the bathroom door slid open and steam billowed out. Glancing at the black haired figure appearing at the doorframe, he raised a brow. "Is that my shirt?"

She continue to dry her hair with a towel, "And your jeans and belt."

Giving her a once over, he turned back around and pulled out two mugs. "Tae's getting your room ready so you'll have a change of clothes soon."

Plopping down on the couch she stretched out. "Who's Tae?"

"She's the base's housekeeper." Pouring out two cups, Kenshin carried them to where she was sitting. Handing her a mug he nudged her to the side a bit to sit on the other end of the only seating in the entire room.

"I've been meaning to ask you about that." Gathering her legs in front of her, she accepted the drink and tilted her head to the side. "Does everyone in MIRU live here? I've never heard of an agency outside the national defense force that houses their employees."

He took a long sip to buy time, and then carefully answered. "Most of us live here."

"And from the sound of things, I'm going to be one of them."

"Yeah."

"I can't stay here," She said off handedly. "I have a goldfish to feed and library books to return."

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, "Don't worry about it. Everything is taken care of."

She seemed happy enough with the answer and blew at her coffee. Kenshin observed her carefully. There was so much about her that made her seem uniquely human. Droids were designed to withstand extreme temperatures -there really was no need to cool down the coffee by blowing on it. He was now fascinated by the way she drank the liquid itself. There was a look of contentment -an expression he was certain he had never made.

"So what's going on? You said you'd explain everything in the morning."

Taking in her statement, he nodded. "What do you want to know?"

She sat pensively, and then spoke. "What is MIRU exactly?"

"Military Intel-"

"Intelligence Robotic Unit. I know. I'm not asking about the acronym."

"We're like the American CIA, except on a much smaller scale and in Japan." Her unflinching gaze was fixed on his head. If she had the capability to, he was pretty sure there would be two smoking holes on the side of his skull. "And with robots."

"Robots? Like what kind of robots? Bomb disarming robots? Science fiction-esque nanobots?"

He considered her a question for a moment. "No, nothing so small. But they can disarm bombs."

She narrowed her eyes. He was obviously hiding something, which seemed unfair being as he pretty much dragged her into this situation. "And I'm here for what? I hope you don't expect me to work on these robots. Sure, I fixed my dad's TV once, but that's just because I hit it enough times."

"You'll support the intelligence unit with other analysts."

Hearing her job description she nodded. What was expected of her didn't seem like a far cry from what she did for the university. The only real difference was that she would now do it as a job. Oh, and the robots were new touch.

Kenshin gulped down the contents of the mug and stood up. "Or that was the plan when they decided to recruit you."

At his words she followed his form into the kitchen. "What do you mean 'that was the plan?' What? It's not the plan anymore?"

After serving himself another cup he offered her more. She ignored his gesture and persisted on.

"What is going on Kenshin?"

There it was again. His name. He wasn't exactly sure why it felt weird when she said it. It made him uncomfortable, but there was something oddly familiar about it.

Slamming the mug on the counter with a force that should have shattered it, Kaoru marched up to him. His short stature allowed her to be at his eye level. Her solid azure eyes caught his amber ones. They were uncompromising, and he could not look away. For one, it would mean that on some primal level he lost. And for another, there was something about this girl.

"Why can't I leave?" Her question was bordering on being a plea. She was so human that he wondered if the serial number on her wrist was a mistake and a huge coincidence.

"There's a crime syndicate that's out get," he thought over his word choice and then continued. "Out to get our potential personnel."

"And the guy in my apartment yesterday was there to..."

"Collect."

She shook her head, "I don't get it. How am I even remotely valuable to a crime organization?"

With the broken eye contact he faced away and gulped down the rest of his coffee. Walking past her he made his way toward the door. Placing his hand on the panel, the door slid open.

Koaru groaned. "What dire meeting are you going to now? I'm getting bored out of my mind in your prison cell."

He frowned at her description of his room, but chose not to address it. "You're coming with me this time."

She perked up and chased after him out the door. "Finally. I felt like a pet hamster in there."

Kaoru observed the brightly lit hallway. The walls and floors were stark white, steel doors lined spaced evenly down the entire path. Each door was laser etched with a capital letter. She wondered about rooms B, C, D, and E as she passed them. They were definitively crossed out in red. The remaining rooms had their letters intact. She assumed that those rooms were occupied the same way Kenshin lived in room A. She stopped in her steps when she caught the last labeled room with a K. It was also crossed out.

Noticing that she had paused in her movements, Kenshin glanced back at her. Seeing where she stopped he frowned, "What?"

Turning toward him she continued forward. "Nothing."

xXx

"Don't you have some training to do?" Megumi grumbled as she flipped through a file.

Sano grinned and leaned back in an office chair and propped his feet up on her desk. "Wanted to see what you two heard about the even."

Tsubame glanced up from her large three panel computer screen. "She's not getting activated just yet."

Sano frowned, "Yahiko told me. I don't get why not."

Megumi rolled her eyes. "Aren't you remotely curious how she's functioning on her own?"

He shrugged, "Probably some crossed wires."

"She's not a phone you idiot." She suddenly paused in her comment and glanced at the door, "Speak of the devil."

The information hub room doors slid opened silently. Kenshin stepped in with a petite young woman trailing behind him. Her dark hair was slightly damp, her clothes hung loosely, and her blue painted toes peaked out from under the jeans.

The older woman narrowed her eyes at the red head, "Why is she barefoot?"

Kenshin shrugged, "She probably forgot to steal my shoes."

Sano laughed, "What, she doesn't have her own?"

Kaoru, growing frustrated as everyone seemed to talk about her as if she weren't there, spoke up. "I wasn't exactly expecting a trigger happy gunman in my apartment."

Sano stood up and walked over to the new girl. "Your brother's crazy, I wouldn't take it personally."

She frowned, "Brother?"

"Ignore him. He's all brawn, no brain." Megumi jabbed the tall man in his side, shoving him out of the way, she extended her hand out. "Megumi. I'm the head of the intelligence unit at MIRU."

Taking the hand Kaoru nodded. "Kamiya Kaoru. I'm apparently the drama causing new recruit."

Megumi gestured toward the other two occupants. "That's Tsubame, she's amazing at data analysis and knows her way around any computer system. This monster is Sanosuke, his brain and mouth is obviously not connected."

"So I'm working with the three of you in intelligence?"

Megumi laughed, "Sano in intelligence? Absolutely not. He's part of the combat unit, along with Kenshin."

"Combat?"

"Yeah, and it looks like you'll be joining their unit instead."

Kaoru was the one to laugh this time. "I don't think I'm qualified."

"You are, trust me."

Before she was allowed to question any further, Kenshin stepped in. "I need for you to give her the security clearance to my room."

"Your room?"

"Her room isn't ready yet."

Sano wiggled a suggestive brow, "How's that going?"

Kaoru frowned, "I don't how professional that eyebrow of yours is, but he's sleeping on the couch."

Tsuabame gestured her over, "I need to take a scan of your palm. It's not in the system yet."

Following the girl's orders, Kaoru laid her hand flat on a scanner. Lights seeped through the cracks between her fingers. Glancing at one of the screens that Tsubame was working on, she notice her name and details listed within what looked like a profile page. "You have everything on me don't you?"

The girl meekly nodded, then gestured to a smaller scanner. "I also need an iris scan."

Leaning toward the machine Kaoru stood still as a green laser-like light traced the patterns of her right eye. After the scan, Tsubame pointed to a small microphone.

Kaoru considered the mike, "Voice recognition?"

Tsubame nodded, "I need you to say your serial number."

"My serial number?" She looked to Kenshin. "I have a serial number?"

"She meant ID number." Kenshin gave Tsubame a pointed look in warning. "Just say, 'kilo-four-zero-romeo-uniform.'"

She rattled off the odd combination of words. She frowned; there was a strangely familiar ring to what she just said. She pulled out of her thoughts when Sano tugged on her hair. Surprised by the odd action, she looked up at the tall man.

He studied her face as he roughly pushed back her bangs. "You got bangs."

"Bangs?" She frowned, "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"He's referring to this picture." Tsubame said as she brought up a photograph on the large screen on the wall.

A headshot of Kaoru was pulled up on the screen. Her eyes were vacant, her face expressionless, and she was sans bangs. Her long black hair fell like curtains on either side of her. Kaoru frowned at the picture, "When's that from? I cut my hair years ago when I still live on Oshima."

Megumi glanced at Kenshin then back Kaoru, "You cut your hair?"

"I looked like a ghost with pale skin and long hair. I also liked the idea of bangs." Seeing the looks she received from the three she added, "Is it against company policy to get a haircut or something?"

"No, but that's why Kenshin didn't recognize you at first." Yahiko added as he waltzed into the room.

Kaoru looked at the new addition to the room, at Tsubame, and then at Kenshin. "The agency personnel is unusually young don't you think?"

Ignoring her comment Kenshin raised a question to the engineer, "You already figured it out?"

Yahiko shook his head, "I'm good, but not that good. I need to open her up."

"That wasn't what we discussed."

"I said we would wait to activate her yet." The boy was taken aback by Kenshin's response. He looked at Kaoru then whipped his eyes back to Kenshin. "You haven't told her yet."

Crossing her arms Kaoru frowned, "Told me what?"

Yahiko studied her for a moment. "Do you know what MIRU is?"

She shrugged, "A Japanese CIA with robots."

He narrowed his eyes at Kenshin. "What about the robots."

Kaoru tilted her head, "I don't have to build them? I don't know. I thought I was here to work in intelligence, but apparently I'm going to combat? I'm not really sure."

Yahiko shook his head in exasperation, "Come with me."

Leading the confused young woman out of the room, Kaoru glanced at the rest of the group. "Should I listen to the squirt?"

The boy snapped back, "Don't call me squirt!"

Megumi sighed, "It's better if you did."

After Kaoru and Yahiko left, Sano and Kenshin headed out to the training room. As the two left the room Sano looked down at his red headed companion. "Why didn't you tell her?"

"I didn't think it was necessary."

Sano grinned, "You like her."

Amber eyes narrowed at the man, "Don't be ridiculous."

"I know you a lot better than you think. Anyways, no one would be against it. Kogoro and Yahiko would be thrilled if anything."

A silence fell between the two until he finally broke the silence, "She thinks she's human."

"So?" Sano shrugged. "What's the difference between us and them? We think, we act, we process, and we form relationships."

"We're not the same."

The taller of the two rolled his eyes, "What? We're faster, stronger, smarter, and we won't die from disease. That's what makes us different? Just count yourself lucky that we're built a little differently."

"That's the thing. We're built. We weren't born." Kenshin let out a tired sigh, "And we can't die."

"Now you're just making excuses. You want to find differences so you can keep brooding about the past." Sano's tone was climbing in annoyance by the second. "I'm the same as you are, but I don't hate what I am. I like it. And I'm living my life. What the hell have you been doing for the past 14 years?"

Kenshin considered his friend's words silently.

Coming up to the training room door, Sano placed his hand on the panel to access it open. "Cut the crap Kenshin. Anyways, she's one of us, so I don't know why it would be any sort of problem."

Following his boisterous brown haired companion into the training hall, Kenshin sighed. "My core won't last much longer anyways."

xXx

Kaoru frowned as she sat on what she assumed was a repurposed surgical table. The small engineer had told her to hop up on the table and wait as he went to find something. Glancing around the room she could only see random gears, wires, pumps, and the like. She wondered what she was doing in this particular room, when she honestly did not know anything machine related. Her eyes continued to wander to the three chairs that were scattered around the room. Why did he tell her to sit on the table instead of a chair?

After a short moment, Yahiko stumbled out of what she assumed was the storage room attached to the laboratory. In his arm was a large rolled up piece of blue paper. He pinned it to a bulletin board. Kaoru raised a brow at the white schematic of a mechanical male form.

Yahiko smirked, "Do you know what that is?"

She considered her words for a moment then slowly answered, "A robot?"

"An android. It's the latest version that we had commissioned."

"I didn't realize they would be human-like. I thought it was going to be like those rovers they sent to space." Kaoru scratched the back of her head, "So how tall is it? A meter? I'm assuming it's like ASIMO."

He scoffed at the name, "ASIMO? What? The toy Honda came out with? They're light years behind what I do."

Kaoru politely nodded. He was obviously very enthusiastic about the topic.

"They're life size. As in they're human size." He studied her reaction for a moment. "You've met some of them already."

Her attention was suddenly grabbed, "Met?"

A smug look crossed his feature. "You spent the night in one of their rooms."

Her eyes widened and she was a loss for words. Her mind reeled with everything that had occurred since her life was thrown into a tailspin. It was impossible. It was inconceivable. "You're lying."

"It's not just him. Sano, Megumi, and Tsubame are all also droids."

She shook her head, "How is that possible? He was so... real."

"Oh, he's very much real. He's just not human."

Gripping her borrowed jeans, she whispered out the confirming statement. She was as much admitting it to herself as she was to Yahiko. "Kenshin is an android."

Seeing her digesting the information he decided that the best thing to do would be to lay it all on her at once. He underlined the serial number at the bottom right corner of the blueprint. "K-39-RU."

Following his finger her eyes widened. She whipped her gaze to her wrist. It was far too close to the black letters that mysteriously occupied her skin.

The teenage boy nodded, "This is your brother."

She frantically shook her head. "No. You're crazy."

Going up to the panicking girl Yahiko gripped her shoulders. "You know you've always felt different."

She tugged away from him, "You don't know what you're saying. I'm Kamiya Kaoru, daughter of Kamiya Koshijiro."

"But you know he's not your real father. If anything, your memories go back only three years."

She narrowed his eyes at his correct statement. "I have amnesia."

"Or you just never had the memories to begin with."

His explanations were unnerving her. "I don't believe you."

"Didn't you ever think that you were different from everyone else?"

"No. I'm normal. Boring even."

He sighed. Denial was a powerful thing. "You can remember every face and name of people you've met."

She frowned, "I have photographic memory."

"And you have photographic memory."

"A lot of people do. That doesn't prove anything."

"You can also distinguish voices to their owners" He pointed out.

"It's part of my study. I spend all day listening to enemy chatter."

"You can stay awake for days on end."

She retaliated back, "I'm an insomniac."

"But you're always alert." He grinned at her mood. She bounced back surprisingly well from the previous panic mode. "You can see clearly underwater and salt water doesn't sting your eyes."

"I was born and raised on an island!"

He tilted his head, "You know that you weren't born there."

"I was raised there. It's my hometown."

"Were you really raised there?" Seeing the truth slowly seeping into her, he pushed on. "You also excel at pretty much anything you try."

A triumphant grinned cross her face at his words. "Ha! See, you're wrong about that. I'm a terrible cook."

He rolled his eyes, "That's because you really don't have to eat. You just go through the motions."

She frowned, "I eat."

"But you've never been hungry."

She was taken aback by the comment, she had never considered it. The truth in his statement scared her. Kaoru's mind cranked on with all the information she needed to process. She wasn't sure if she believed it just yet.

He watched the expressions change on her face. She was distinctly human in her gestures, reactions, and thoughts. Especially her thoughts.

Yahiko decided to pull out his best weapon to convince her. "You're also athletic and you can fight."

She furrowed her brows at the boy, "I've never played a sport and I've never fought a day in my life."

Expecting her response, he grinned. "Do you want to see what you're made of?"


	6. Asylum

Author Notes: Another day, another chapter. And lo and behold, the gulf oil leak is still going. wtf BP? Anyways, comments about this new chapter. There are a lot of explanations. Not all the explanations, but some. I also decided that Sano should be the bringer of technical information, because he'll dumb it down. Which is nice for me, because I'm no engineering and I'm pulling these mechanical explanations out of my butt. Well, without further ado, I give you chapter 5 (no the prologue doesn't count as a _real_ chapter). Remember to review on the flip side. Peace out.

**Disclaimer: The _Rurouni Kenshin_ world and all characters depicted are a creation of mangaka, Watsuki Nobuhiro.**

**Asylum**

By Hoshi-ni-Onegai

Kaoru was getting annoyed. Not only was she being left in the dark about everything, she was being led places like a confused horse. She stared at the boy in front of her. According to his ridiculous theories, she was a robot. She mentally scoffed. Yeah, right. He's been reading one too many science fiction novels.

This had to be some kind of rookie initiation ritual; otherwise, how else would a fifteen year old kid end up being the head engineer of a supposedly underground government agency.

Coming up to double glass doors, Kaoru breathed a sigh of relief. She had previously visited this room yesterday. It was the same place where she first met the squirt and an older man that seemed like the head of this place. Following the boy into the room, Kaoru saw the man form yesterday with two other men. They seemed older than anyone else she met in this loony bin. Hopefully they could give her some answers.

The man from the day before looked up and smiled, "Miss Kamiya Kaoru. I'm hoping you're adjusting to everything."

She frowned at his statement. It was too vague to pick up anything to confirm or deny the shorty's claims.

"I believe I'm late in introductions." He extended his hand out, "My name is Katsura Kogoro, the Director of MIRU."

She took his hand. "Kamiya Kaoru. Enemy chatter analysis extraordinaire."

The tall lanky man narrowed his eyes as he pulled out a cigarette and lighter. "I'd drop that last name if I were you."

Kaoru raised a brow at the comment, but Kogoro called for her attention. "That's Saitou Hajime, the Deputy Director of MIRU. And you've already met Myojin Yahiko, our young head of engineering."

She froze at his words. "Engineering?"

"He hasn't told you?" The older man glanced at the boy, then back at her. "Someone has to have told you about who you are right?"

"Small fry was telling the truth?"

Yahiko glared at her, "Don't call me small fry!"

There was little else she could say. How do you respond to a room full of people claiming you were nothing more than a bundle of gears and wires? She was a living breathing native of Oshima, no director of a government agency or a pubescent geek was going to tell her otherwise.

Kogoro gestured for the visibly muscular man to come forward. "And this is Hiko Seijuro, head of combat training."

"Combat training?"

He nodded, "He'll be teaching you everything you need to know."

xXx

Misao stretched as she leaned back on the ferry's railing. "I didn't think it was going to be this far."

Aoshi spared her a brief glance before returning to his newspaper.

"I didn't realize it was Nii Oshima." She sighed, "I thought we were going to take a boat off of the Tokyo docks and we'd be back by sundown."

"It's the other side of Japan."

The two, and previously only, members of the espionage unit was making their way westward in the country. After a long train ride, they were in the final stretch of their travel with a relatively short ferry ride to the island in question.

"I know that now." She narrowed her eyes, "You know what this means right? We're going to be the last ones to meet her."

"She'll be there when we get back."

"Yeah, and poisoned by Megumi," she mumbled out.

Aoshi's reaction barely registered on his face. "Poisoned."

"I'm the youngest droid behind generation K. Aside from Megumi and Tsubame there aren't any other evens. And Tsubame was poisoned by Megumi's ways long before I showed up."

"Tsubame's older than Megumi."

"That's beside the point. That girl barely talks to me." Misao plopped down on the seat next to him, "Then again you don't either."

The man returned to his reading. "She's joining our unit."

Letting out an exasperated sigh, she laid her head on his shoulder. "I know."

xXx

She was going to die. Her short stint with this agency was obviously coming to an unceremonious end in the next five minutes. Eyeing the blade in Hiko's hand she shook her head. Correction, in the next two minutes.

"Come at me Kaoru."

The deep voice of her supposed trainer reverberated throughout the training room. The unfamiliar weight of the katana in her hand was uncomfortable. How was he expecting a pencil pushing self-proclaimed nerd to fight a master of an ancient sword fighting technique? Hiten something or another Ryu -she hadn't exactly paying attention after finding out she was supposed to spar him.

Yahiko swore up and down that she was "designed" and "programmed" to fight. Well, nobody told her. The glistening dojo floor gripped her bare feet as she stood nervously across the room from the man that would surely end her existence.

Seeing her hesitation, Hiko barked out. "With a spine like that, you'll be destroyed on your first mission."

She glared at the man, "Look, I barely know which end is up for this thing."

An annoyed look crossed his face and she wondered if it had been the smartest idea to leave her alone in a room with this man. He raised his blade and he disappeared into a blur.

Kaoru had no idea how to explain what happened next. In well skilled form, he attacked with god-like speed. She shouldn't have had time to react. She shouldn't have been able to read his movements. She should have split her in two by his sword.

If she was really human.

Instead, she survived. No, she more than survived. With instincts she had no idea she had, she pulled out the sword from its scabbard. Her hand moved with swift and grace she had never shown. His blade clashed with hers and the high-pitched metallic ringing echoed through the room.

Hiko smirked. "I expected as much."

Beyond her perfect block, was the even more impressive position of the scabbard. It was well placed on a point on his neck that with appropriate pressure would have knocked him unconscious.

Nodding in approval he back away, "You need training."

Her eyes widened and her tone was indignant, "You just tried to kill me!"

"If you didn't block that attack, you're not worth the scrap metal you're made out of."

She frowned, "Scrap metal?"

"It's a figure of speech. You cost eighteen million dollars. Trust me, you're not made out of scrap metal."

She gasped at the figure, "Eighteen million!"

"Let's get our money's worth." He moved back into his position across the room. "Attack."

xXx

Kenshin knocked back Sano's swing with a flick of his right wrist. He straightened up and looked toward a small door off to the side of the training room he and Sano occupied currently occupied.

Sano gathered himself after the shorter man's attack. Despite Kenshin's outward appearance, he was the most skilled fighter of all the droids. He was the first droid to be designed and built. It was like they could never get it right after him. All droids attempts after Kenshin never compared to his speed or skill. The small red head was a mechanical mystery.

Following the eye line of his sparring partner Sano raised a brow. "It's only Kaoru, and probably Hiko."

Kenshin briefly glanced at his friend. "I figured."

"They're probably testing her out."

"She's not activated yet." He pointed out.

"So?"

Sano was turning out to be denser than he previously gave him credit for. "The software is there, but she doesn't know how to access it."

Grinning he wiggled his brows, "Don't worry, he won't break her."

The implication of Sano's facial expression and his tone of voice annoyed him. He was obviously not letting this topic go. Kenshin wasn't entirely sure where he was grabbing these ideas, but he wasn't sure if he could say that there wasn't some truth behind it.

The doors slid open at that moment, and the two men acknowledged the new occupant. A slip of a girl shuffled into the room with a file in hand.

As she approached him, Kenshin sheathed his sword. "What is it Tsubame?"

After handing the file over, she fidgeted with her shirt sleeve. "An assignment."

"Urgent?"

"Yes. You'll need to leave immediately." She responded nervously.

Kenshin sighed and ruffled her short hair. "Thanks Tsubame."

Revealing a nervous, but genuine, smile she bowed and excused herself from the room.

Sano laughed, "Who would think she's supposed to be your match?"

Kenshin shrugged, "They designed her to be my complete opposite. They shouldn't have expected her to feel comfortable around an assassin."

Putting away his own sword, Sano went up behind Kenshin and glimpsed at the file. "Flying solo?"

Flipping quickly through the pages he nodded. "Yeah. There's a drop off across town."

"How many targets?"

"Three."

Sano laughed, "Walk in the park for you."

Snapping the file closed he went to put away the practice sword.

Trailing behind his friend Sano nudged a sensitive subjective. "Hopefully you'll make it back alive." Receiving a menacing glare he smirked, "Your core can't last much longer -which is a shame since Kaoru just came along."

Walking past him, Kenshin headed for the door. "Or it was convenient that my replacement finally came along."

xXx

Two pairs of feet silently landed on the soft grass as they vaulted over the garden wall. Crouching, the figures stole into the shadows of the small backyard. The tall dark-haired man motioned for the girl to go around the front door. Nodding, the shorter figure scurried along the side of the house.

Readying his gun, he slid one of the back doors open. The old wood groaned slightly beneath his trained feet. He made quick work of the small living room, hallway, kitchen, and then bedroom. Coming up to his partner in the main hallway he shook his head, "My end is clear."

"Same here." She sighed and holstered her gun. "There's no sign for forced entry."

"There wouldn't be." He shook his head. "Not on this island."

"Sleepy town with unlocked doors."

"He was abducted maybe six hours ago." He led her out the back way.

"How did they get here before we did?"

"They have her twin, it might mean he can sense her easier." Coming up to the wall he grabbed the edge and hoisted himself up. "We need to call HQ."

"You call. I don't want to be on the receiving end of that conversation with Saitou."

Leaping off the wall, he traced her movements as she followed suit. His voice held the slight ring of warning. "Misao."

The girl rolled her eyes. "I call in when we have good news. I'm not about to get my head chewed off by the nicotine junkie."

He narrowed his eyes at her, then pulled out his cell phone and began dialing.

Grinning, Misao trailed after him. "That's why I love you Aoshi."

xXx

Collapsing in a flail of arms and legs, Kaoru groaned. She lay panting as she stared at the brightly lit ceiling. Her muscles would probably be sore tomorrow.

Her sword lay haphazardly to the side. She glanced at the gleaming blade for a short second. Was she going go through this every day from now on?

"Stop panting."

She glared at the owner of the voice who stood off to the side drinking a bottle of water. "Well, if you didn't push me so much I probably wouldn't be so exhausted."

Hiko rolled his eyes. "Droids can hold their breath underwater for over twenty minutes. I don't think a light workout would have any of your counterparts panting."

"What would you know?"

"Don't believe me? Stop breathing so heard. Trust me, you won't be out of breath."

At his instruction she sat up. Forcing herself to stop taking mouthfuls of air, she concentrated. Her eyes widened at the physical revelation. She wasn't tired. She wasn't out of breath. And she could probably go for another round or so of sparring.

Hiko smirked, "You've lived your life copying how other people react. Acting tired at appropriate times. Eating when everyone else did. And giving emotional reactions to things that wouldn't affect a regular droid."

She shook her head, "That's impossible. I haven't done-"

"Anything intentionally." He finished her sentence for her. "You're designed to learn human traits and mimic them. It wouldn't be that farfetched to think that one who lived only amongst humans and raised by a human father would be so convincing."

"So you're saying this is all just an act? I'm just advanced artificial intelligence?"

He considered it for a moment then responded. "Think of it as the difference between nature and nurture. You were nurtured to be a certain way, which overrode the nature of your system."

Her mind was reeling. Or was it really her mind? Was it really just a computer chip?

Going to her seated form, he stared into her eyes. "It doesn't make you any less human. Everything I am is learned. I didn't come out of my mother swinging a sword and making pottery."

She decided not to press the issue of his apparent love of ceramics -even though it didn't exactly match his image very well.

"I just need you to do me a favor and teach Kenshin that." He patted the top of her head, like he would a dog. He frowned at the sensation on his palm. Bring the back of his hand to her forehead he sighed in exasperation. "When was the last time you had something to drink?"

She thought back to her last beverage, which traced back to Kenshin-brewed cup of Joe. "I had coffee this morning."

He shook his head. "No. A drink with alcohol."

His question was an odd one, then again most questions from people in this crazy place were. "I don't know, four days ago I had a beer after a tough day at school."

Hiko frowned at her words and stood up. "How often do you drink?"

She shrugged, "A drink or a so a week."

Tugging at the back of her shirt he pulled her up roughly. She stumbled to gather her footing. She was barely allowed enough time to react.

"You need a drink. Now." He continued to drag her by back of her shirt.

The doors to the training room slid open as they approached it. Kaoru didn't need to glance behind her to know who had entered the room. She mentally sighed, she wondered if that was also an android trait.

"I see they threw you into the lion's den." Sano grinned at the sight before him. "Glad to see you survived."

Finally coming to a stop, Hiko let go of her shirt collar. Turning around she took in the tall alleged droid. She couldn't help but follow and stare at his movements. It just wasn't possible. His movements were fluid. Her image of the robot had more to do with old windup toys and the robot dance. It really was impossible. If Sano really was an android, then Kaoru would have to applaud Yahiko for his work. He was a work of art, not engineering. There wasn't a single visible bolt or apparent artificial component.

As her eyes swept over his body and across his features, she frowned. She had been caught staring. Kaoru mentally sighed, he probably thought she was ogling him.

Sano grinned but didn't bring it up. He looked toward Hiko instead, "I'm assuming since she's still standing that she did fine."

The combat training shook his head. "She's cold. She hasn't had anything to drink in four days."

Sano's eyes widened at the comment. "Are you crazy!"

She was taken aback by both men's comments and especially by Sano's reaction. "I think it's healthy."

Hiko rolled his eyes and shoved her toward the other man. "Take care of her will you?"

Nodding in understanding, Sano tugged the girls arm and led her out the door. Forcefully dragged down a few long hallways, she wondered if this was something she needed to get used to. Since her time here, people had a tendency to pull her places. Didn't they know she wasn't going to run away? To honestly say, she had no idea how to escape the facility anyways.

Turning a corner and coming to an open room she was surprised. Everything in this place was a panel activated sliding or glass door. This was the first place that didn't need security access. The room was, however, as stark white as the hallways. It looked like some sort of lounge area. A large television sat in the corner and two clusters of white couches and sofas dotted the room. In the opposite corner of the TV was a wet bar.

Pushing her to sit on one of the sofas, she realized that they were as uncomfortable as they looked. Before she could even observe the room further, Sano went to the bar and pulled a bottle of slightly familiar liquor. She furrowed her brows. Everclear? The last time she had even tried it had been her first weekend in Tokyo. A classmate had decided to make her drunk, but she had proceeded to drink him under the table.

Pulling out a beer stein, he nearly emptied the entire contents of the bottle into it. Marching up to her, he thrust it before her –miraculously not spilling a drop. "Drink. All of it."

Carefully taking it in her hands, she looked at the stein suspiciously. "You're trying to kill me."

"And have Yahiko deactivate me? Yeah right." He grabbed bottle of beer for himself and sat on the couch across from her. "Our body runs on alcohol."

Her drink was still untouched. "And what? I'm due for an emergency fill up or something?"

"Your skin is cool." At her confused face he elaborated. "Your system is trying to conserve energy because it's about running on near empty right now. Our skin isn't naturally warm, it's programmed to generate heat so we can pass as human."

"Oh." She figured she would trust the guy and gulped down half the contents. She had the ability to proudly say that she had never been drunk -or tipsy for that matter. Considering her line of thought, she decided to bring it up. "We can't get drunk can we?"

"Nope." He shrugged. "Have you heard about the alcohol powered cars from Brazil?" At her nod he continued, "It's kind of like that. But we're built so we can process drinkable alcohol because it's readily available -just in case you find yourself away from the base for days on end."

"So I've been abusing my engine by making run without any real fuel in it."

"Pretty much." He grinned as he sat back. "Imagine what you can do when your tank is full."

Kaoru felt oddly comfortable with Sano. Was it because he was a droid?

"Also, don't forget to drink your caffeine. We need that too."

"Why caffeine?" She inquired.

Sano frowned, "Are you going to understand if I explain it to you?"

At his words she shook her head, "Probably not."

"Good, because neither do I. Something about excess water and bugs... or was it oils?"

She raised a speculative brow, "You have no idea."

"Not a clue."

She looked toward the entry way of the room. Megumi was coming. Seeing where her attention went, he smirked. "That's also something else you're designed to do."

Kaoru turned back to Sano at his comment. "To do what?"

"Detect other droids. And know when people are near you and where."

She frantically nodded acknowledging what she previously thought was a weird skill. "All droids can do that?"

He was about to answer in affirmative, but thought it over. "Well, except for Kenshin that is."

She raised a questioning brow. "Huh? Why?"

"Because he's an older model." Megumi threw in her two cents as she expectantly came into the room.

"Older?"

"Oldest." Glancing at Sano's empty bottle, Megumi rolled her eyes. "Here I'm working hard and you're having a beer."

He grinned. "Little lady was going cold. She didn't know we ran on booze."

At hearing the comment, a worried expression crossed Megumi's features. Gesturing for the girl to finish the rest of her glass, she kneeled in front of her.

With an empty stein now in hand, Kaoru didn't exactly know what to do as the female droid studied her. The other woman's hands roamed around her body without warning. There was absolutely nothing sexual about the touch. If anything, it was the experienced hand of a doctor checking her vitals.

"We really should do a system analysis on you." Patting the girl on the shoulder she stood up and went to grab some coffee from the bar. "Swing by Yahiko's lab tomorrow morning. We'll make sure if everything is in order."

"I feel fine though." Kaoru demonstrated by swinging around her right arm.

"Yeah, but you've been running around in the real world without any maintenance." Tossing back a wave in farewell Megumi headed back from whence she came. "Don't forget to drink lots of fluids."

Kaoru was a bit dumbfounded by the brief encounter. She took a careful mental note that Megumi was a force to be reckoned with. Looking back over to Sano she couldn't help the amused smile grace her face. He was looking after the taller woman with a look that she had previously seen on one of the young fisherman on her island. The young man had suddenly become smitten with Kaoru's neighbor -a girl he had known his whole life. From what her father told her, they married four months ago and were expecting their first baby.

"Does she do all the checkups?" She inquired, carefully gauging his reaction.

"She's actually a healing droid." Pride beamed off of him. "Think of her as your supplemental mechanic slash physician aside from Yahiko."

Kaoru smiled and took another mental note: Sano was a brute, but he had a school boy crush on the resident doctor.

Standing up, he grabbed another beer and the bottle of Everclear. He motioned for her to extend out her empty glass. She reluctantly did so, and then he filled it to a brim. She eyed the precariously contained liquor. Regardless that she now understood that she was apparently "running" on it -this much couldn't be good for you.

Plopping down again in his previous seat he twisted off the bottle cap of the beer. "Any questions?"

"About?"

He let out a laugh, "Being a droid?"

"Oh." She thought it over. There were questions. A lot of questions. "How many droids are there?"

"Including you, nine. Seven here, and two hacked droids are running around outside of the agency."

"Hacked?"

"They were stolen and reprogrammed." He carefully watched for her reaction before continuing. "Soujiro's one of them."

The name was not familiar. She could tell that Sano was testing her response to the name, but how was she supposed to give the appropriate display of emotion if she had no idea who it was?

He sighed, "What the hell did they tell you?"

"I'm a robot?"

Groaning he downed his bottle and set it on the coffee table between them. "Soujiro is your brother."

Kaoru furrowed her brows. It wasn't the first time since arriving to this insane asylum that people mentioned her 'brother.' She had previously figured all droids called each other 'sister' and 'brother' -kind of like a cult.

Watching the stream and degrees of confused looks running across her face Sano shook his head. It seemed like the supposed higher ups of the organization left everything up to everyone else to explain. "You were made as a pair. You're the only one of us with a twin brother."

"A twin brother?"

"Yeah. He's the one that was shooting at you last night." He gestured for her to drink her still untouched second glass. "MIRU felt empty in the combat and espionage unit, so Yahiko designed and ordered both an even and an odd."

She stopped drinking and looked over the brim of her glass. There were those words again. "Even? Odd? Combat? Espionage?"

"Way to not explain Yahiko." He grumbled and nodded. "Okay. Evens are girl droids. Odds are boy droids."

"You sound like you're explaining the birds and the bees to a child."

He ignored her comment. "And MIRU droids are divided into three units. Intelligence, combat, and espionage."

"And I'm in combat?"

He shook his head. "Megumi and Tsubame are intelligence droids. Tsubame is exclusively an analyst model. Megumi, on the other hand, was programmed to be a mechanic of sorts, but they put her in intelligence after they realized there really weren't that many droids breaking down. She's more of an on-the-field precaution anyways."

Kaoru tilted her head. "That seems more like my cup of tea than combat. I mean, I'm a little impressed with myself from training, but I'm a bona fide book worm."

"You're not combat -sort of. Kenshin's the head of combat. And I'm his faithful and indispensible partner."

"Okay... Wait, by process of elimination that would mean that I'm in espionage." She shook her head, "I'm no James Bond. I'm not sly and I can't drive a stick shift."

"You probably can, you just don't know it yet. Anyways, you haven't met the two members of the unit. They're out on a mission."

"So I'm a spy robot?"

"Kind of."

She heaved a frustrated breath. "What's up with the sort of and kind of? What am I?"

"Well, you and Soujiro are twins, but you're not the same models. He was combat. You were supposed to be like Aoshi."

"Aoshi?" Another new name, she would need a face book to keep track of everyone.

"He's the head of espionage. He's half spy, half fighter."

"Half." Her own voice was half question, half statement.

Sano seemed to think over his response then tried to answer as simply as possible. "We're like a computer. There's only so much memory space, so they decide what each of us are going to specialize in before they activate us."

"So what? You guys had an opening in both units so you decided to kill two birds with one stone?"

"Three birds." He grinned at her confused look, "Espionage works a lot with intelligence and you go out on the field with combat too."

She narrowed her eyes, "Why does this job sound outrageously busy?"

Sano was surprised by her word choice, but didn't press further on it. "It is, don't worry. But you'll have Misao too -but she's more half spy, half analyst."

That didn't sound right. If anything, she should be the half analyst. Heck, her entire thesis was intelligence analysis.

He shrugged, "It would have been better if we had both of you generation K models back, but beggars can't be choosers."

"Generation K?"

Leaning forward he reached for her wrist and tugged it forward. Pointing to the black letters he started to explain. "K-40-RU. Kilo-four-zero-romeo-uniform. K is your generation letter, so that means that there's been a generation A through J already. I'm G by the way.

"4 is your heart core series number. You have the latest core type, not even your wonder twin has that. 0 is your model number. This is where we get the even odd thing. Females get even numbers and males get odd -zero is considered even because it looks even with the core number in front of it. And the RU is the same for everyone, it stands for robotic unit."

Kaoru processed his explanation. He really could have split up the information, but he was obviously getting bored with the droid world talk. She really couldn't blame him. It was probably a mundane subject for him, so she decided to change it. "Why do I get the feeling that you're stuck babysitting me because everyone else is busy?"

"Your nanny is busy right now, so I'm your temporary babysitter." He grinned, "You'll realize that I'm the least busy droid here. And you'll hate me for it."

"Yeah right. I've been here a day and I haven't done anything productive. I've trained and downed liquor."

"Welcome to my world." He stood up and waved her to follow. Glancing back he added for good measure. "Also, don't refer to other droids as 'it' or 'that' in front of Kenshin."

"Why would I?" Kaoru frowned. "It's not like they're cars or anything. From what I've seen, aside from having a mechanic, you're treated more like a person than a machine anyways."

Sano considered her words and nodded. Facing forward, he led her out of the lounge area. After interacting with her for a while, he understood why Kenshin was fascinated. It didn't matter that Kenshin would deny that he was intrigued; there was a touch of something odd about her. She possessed the humanness that the red head had always subconsciously always wanted in himself.

Sano couldn't help the smirk that appeared on his face. The generation K even was turning out to be exactly what Kenshin needed. This was going to be fun to watch.


	7. Rabbit Hole

Author Notes: I'm sure many of you who had this story on your alert list is thinking the apocalypse must be around the corner since it was finally updated after 18 long months. In my mind this story is still very new, but according to when I posted the first chapter it was back in November of 2009... let's just ignore that. Anyways, there was something I like to call the "Great Crash of 2010," which had nothing to do with Wallstreet and all to do with my computer. I lost everything. I mean EVERYTHING. So all I had was what I had on this site. Anyone who read my longer fics will be able to tell you that a lot of research goes into these silly stories I write. This particular fic had pretty much the majority of it already planned out, but that's all gone and I for the life of me could only remember half of what I had planned. So I was left with rereading the chapters I posted and trying to figure the heck out of the little bits of information I hid as foreshadow. I know these are excuses, but I hope I haven't lost all my readership.

I almost gave up on fanfiction until I received a very sweet email from Gargantua wanting to do a Q&A kind of thing for her site. You can find her site at lucentdusk dot com. And that's what go be replanning this story over again.

And my most recent reviewer Kaye, it's your lucky day that the new chapter is coming out brief short days later.

**Disclaimer: The **_**Rurouni Kenshin**_** world and all characters depicted are a creation of mangaka, Watsuki Nobuhiro.**

**Rabbit Hole**

By Hoshi-ni-Onegai

Kaoru sighed as she was tossed into a narrow room by Sano. She had been led like cattle around the MIRU facility and this was apparently her latest stop. Gathering her surroundings, she considered the room then turned to face her tour guide. "The laundry room?"

"Your powers of observation are astounding. What gave it away? The washing machine or the dryer?"

She responded with a pointed glare.

Seeing the peeved and tired droid Sano shrugged. "They told me Tae would be here."

"What's a Tae?"

"The base's housekeeper. She's takes care of us like a housemother." Gesturing the two full baskets he grinned, "Why don't you get started on that while you wait for her?"

With a wave of a hand and a slide of a door, Kaoru was left alone with a hum of the dryers spinning steadily. Glancing at the dirty pile of clothes she sighed, she might as well help out. With a guy like Sano roaming around, the poor Tae probably never got a day off.

Opening the front loading washer she started tossing in the clothes from the first hamper. There was an eclectic collection of styles and sizes. After coming across pair of men's jeans, a pink thong, and silk blouse she had the sneaking suspicion that this pile didn't exactly belong to the same person. Setting aside the silk blouse that would actually need to be dry-cleaned, Kaoru poured in the some detergent she found on a shelf, closed the washer door, and moved onto the next load.

She considered the all black selection. The basket was filled to the brim with jeans, trousers, shirts, t-shirts, socks, and the like and completely in black. Thinking back to the closet she raided earlier in the day she smirked, "I think I know who you belong to."

As she reached for the first item she glanced toward the entrance. A moment later the door slid open with a smiling woman in her early thirties strolling in. Noticing the girl crouched in front of a washer half-way reaching for a black shirt the woman tilted her head. "You don't have to do that."

Kaoru shrugged and gave a pleasant smile, "It's no trouble. I'm used to it."

"I could use someone like you around here." The woman set aside the additional laundry basket she had brought in with her. "I'm Tae by the way. I'm the housekeeper of the MIRU facility. If there is anything you need, I'm the lady to ask."

"I'm Kaoru Kamiya." She thought over her introduction and then added, "The new kid."

"That's the understatement of the century." Opening an empty washer she tossed in the clothes from her basket. "You're the talk of the town right now."

"I don't know about that, but-" Kaoru reached for the black button-down shirt that sat on the top of the pile. She frowned at the damp sensation on her hand. Putting the shirt in the machine she turned her right hand over out of curiosity. What she saw made her eyes widen and jump back from the basket and washer.

At the sudden movement Tae glanced up at the girl. "Is something wrong?"

Clasping her hand into tight fist Kaoru shook her head and plastered on a smile. "No, I just forgot they told me to go see Yahiko. Sorry."

Without waiting for response, she bolted out of the room. Kaoru made her way down the pristine white halls. Her mind spun and her hand burned. What kind of place was this? They kept on throwing new information at her. So much that she felt her head might rip apart from all of it.

Yet there was more unsaid than said. It was frustrating and terrifying. She wasn't sure if she could trust this agency. For all she knew MIRU was the bad guys in this weird superhero inspired tale she was being dragged through. Kaoru felt the paranoia creep up her spine and leak into her thoughts. Why was she being so trusting with these people?

Racing through the corridors, she came upon the familiar door with the A emblazoned on it. For a pregnant moment she stared at the door access panel. Uncurling her fingers she steadied her right hand. Taking in a calming breath, she steeled her resolve and placed her palm on the scan.

She didn't worry about stains she was leaving on the access panel as the door silently granted her access. She stumbled into the room, too frightened to worry about her surroundings.

"Kaoru?"

Whipping her head up, she stammered as she blatantly hid her hand behind her back. "K-kenshin."

The door slid shut behind her as he stalked up to her. Her back hit the door as she shirked away from his looming figure. He grabbed her arm forward and gave a look of warning at her fist. His wordless demand was more threatening than anything she ever encountered. She allowed her fingers to uncurl.

Kenshin furrowed his brows at what he saw. From her palm to her delicately tapered fingertips were covered in what looked like blood. Without a second thought, he dragged her to the bathroom.

"Where are you hurt?"

She shook her head, even though he was turned away and rifling through the medicine cabinet. "It's not mine. It was on a shirt in the laundry room."

At her words his movements froze. Her trembling mind could only stare as an uncomfortable silence filled around them. It was broken when he sudden slammed shut the cabinet with enough force that it was wonder that the mirror didn't shatter. Blasting the faucet with hot water, the additional humidity added to the already steamy bathroom. From the fogged mirror and Kenshin's state of dress with sweatpants, a towel draped over his shoulders and his damp hair -it was obvious that he had just finished taking a scalding shower.

Grabbing her hand he brought it under the water. She flinched at the heat, but he stubbornly kept it under the water and scrubbed with the bar of soap next to the sink.

"It doesn't hurt, so stop acting like it does."

She frowned, but considered his words. Kenshin was right, it didn't hurt. She could tell the water was hot, but there was no pain. "Hiko was right. I have only been imitating."

He paused for a moment then continued to scrub her hand. "They told you."

"About?" At his pointed glance she registered his statement. "Yeah, and I can still barely believe it."

As he continued to work on thoroughly cleaning her other hand, she reached out and allowed her free hand to wander through his messy bangs. He looked up as her slim fingers brushed aside his hair and graced over his scar-marred cheek and jaw line.

"You look and feel so real through."

Tugging the towel off his shoulders he turned off the tap and handed it to her to dry off. He walked out of the bathroom and away from her touch.

Kaoru trailed after him, thinking she must have offended him. She reached for his shoulder. In the next moment her back was slammed against the wall, a vice-like grip around her neck.

Eyes wide, she stared at the burning amber glare. A half a second passed and remorse registered on his face and he quickly retracted his hand.

"Sorry." She rasped out, as she held her throat.

Kenshin frowned at her apology and her reaction, "Why are you apologizing?"

"I shouldn't have reached for a trained fighter from behind. I should have known better."

He thought it over then stepped away, "It's part of my programming, not training."

"I don't know. From what Hiko tells me, you're a respectable soldier."

He glared, "That's how I was built."

She tilted her head, "Why are you so adamant on selling yourself as a machine?"

"That's what I am."

"Yeah, and so are some other I've met here, but you're really driving the point home."

"You don't get it," he sighed.

"What don't I get?" Her tone was accusing and Kenshin was taken aback by it. "Look, I feel the same before and after Yahiko told me. It doesn't change who I am, it just changed the 'what.'"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "And what you are is a tool built by your government to get rid of weeds."

Kaoru brows furrowed at his declaration. "A tool?"

"Maybe weapon would be the better term."

Her eyes widened at his declaration, "You mean... we're built to..."

A pained smirk tilted his lips. "Kill? To put it lightly."

She brought her trembling right hand to their line of sight. "The blood. It's… who's is it?"

"Not anyone that'll be missed." He loomed over her from. "You're wrong if you think we're all here to be expensive toys." After gauging her reaction, which he saw was all too human, he turned away. "It doesn't matter. 'Who' you are will be erased when you're activated."

Her arm shot out and gripped his wrist. She continued to tremble, but remained firm as she peered up at him through her bangs. "What are you talking about?"

"They didn't tell you." For a split second Kaoru could have sworn there was a sign of pity in the cold redhead, but it was gone as soon as she'd thought she'd seen it. He scoffed, pulled out of her grip, and made his way toward the kitchen on the opposite end of the room. "Why would they tell you? We're not here to be informed."

Reaching into the cupboard he pulled out coffee grounds and two mugs. He absently went through the movements of making coffee as he continued to speak. "You're a mechanical anomaly, they have no idea how you're moving because you haven't been activated yet."

"What does it mean to be activated?" Kaoru precariously sat on one of the two seats at the small table tucked near the kitchenette.

"Exactly how it sounds." He poured water into the coffee machine reservoir and flipped the switch and leaned against the counter as he studied her. "Your system hasn't gone through the first-time boot up. Right now, you're moving but you're not accessing your programming. And that's not what MIRU would consider an effective use of company property."

Tugging her fingers through her hair she sighed and locked eyes with him. "So they boot me up. What happens then? I'm sent out get rid of weeds? I can't do that."

The desperation in her voice bothered him. Kaoru was completely human in her reactions, gestures, and especially the way she looked at him. It irked him beyond his reasoning. He shook off her gaze and made the gesture of drying his hair with the towel that remained on his shoulders.

"It doesn't matter. It's likely you won't remember anything after they activate you. Your programming will probably overwrite all your memori-" He paused in his words when he felt calming hands pause his distracting movements. Allowing himself to glance up, Kenshin was swallowed in by her azure gaze.

"Why are you talking at me and not to me?" She gulped down the building knot in her throat. "My memories... my father, my time in Oshima, I can't lose them. It's all I have."

He had the suddenly inexplicable urge to comfort her. To tell her that he wouldn't let that happen. That he would find a way to let her keep her memories of her human experiences. But instead, he pulled out of her imploring hands and gently pushed her by her shoulder away from him.

"It's not something you'll be able to prevent." He allowed his amber eyes to meet hers; this was gesture he had seen done by humans when trying to assure the other of the truth. She seemed to not process facts and logic like the other droids. "You'll be activated. You'll serve a purpose. They'll use you until you wear out. Then, you'll be replaced."

Kaoru cringed at his words and shoved away from him as if his touch burned. His actions spoke of honesty, but his words were cruel. What worried her most was that there was no malice evident in his tone. It was as if he was missing the gauge for sincerity and emotion. The possibility that she might become like him struck her to the core. Whirling around, she wordlessly sprinted out the doors of the room.

Kaoru dashed down the blinding white hall. She needed to escape. She needed to leave before they killed or destroyed her.

Taking a tight corner she kept running. She flew by all the doors she had learned through her strange day and a half since arriving. Instead of an exit she ran into a dead-end. Not losing her momentum, she spun around and tore down another maze of corridors. It was late in the evening there was no one in sight. She passed the control room, Yahiko's lab, training room, the common area but there was no exit. There was no way out.

She could kick herself for being so naïve. She had followed the first attractive life-saving mystery man out of her apartment and had wound up going so far down the rabbit hole she gave Alice a run for her money. She listened and analyzed criminal, terrorist, and enemy organization chatter all day as part of her studies. Why on earth did she blindly trust anyone at all?

Making one last ditch effort she raced back to where she had entered the facility with Kenshin on the bike. After the receiving tiny mirror box room, they had weaved through a garage full of vehicles and entered the compound through the sliding pocket door she was currently staring at. But there was nothing there, just a smooth mirrored-glass wall. There was no access point with an electric panel or door knob.

Kaoru desperately traced frantic hands against the crevice between where the door and the wall should be. There was nothing there indicating that the door was nothing more than a wall. Squaring off against her only hope for escape she took in a deep shaking breath.

"Get a grip Kaoru. This is going to work." Fisting her right hand she pulled her arm back in the ready. "You're a freaking robot."

Slamming her entire weight and mechanical force into her arm, her right fist collided into the glass-like door. The impact reverberated down to her toes and burned up her spine to her head. Balancing back she readied her hand again. Her constant mantra was her only encouragement: 'It's all in your head. You can't feel pain. It's all in your head.'

Kaoru allowed her fist to crash down on the glass over and over. Soon, she brought up her left fist to join in the destruction. Or the lack there of. Not even a crack or a chip was made on the door. The glass remained unmarred, aside from the smudges her pounding hands made.

The shower of fists did not end. She needed to get out of this nuthouse before it swallowed her whole. A betraying resounding crack was heard and she stared hopefully at the glass. Not a scratch was on it. Furrowing her brows she looked around, there were no signs of damage anywhere. Ignoring the pain that made her dizzy she kept on. She kept telling herself it was a stupid reaction she picked up from her years imitating humans. Just like how scalding water didn't really hurt, this didn't either. Then why was she registering a one thousand on the one to ten pain scale?

Her focused attention on the door and the debilitating agony of her hands and arms, prevented her from realizing the presence behind her. Rapid and firm hands stopped her movements and whipped her around to stare into amber eyes.

Kaoru wasn't sure what froze her in her place. The pain, the fact that she was caught trying to escape, or the worry that was evident in Kenshin's gaze. "What the hell do you think you're doing Kaoru!"

Her knees gave out and she crumbled to the floor as his quick arms steadied her down. The ache was excruciating. "I have to get out of here."

Ignoring her declaration he studied her hands and scowled at the damage. "You broke your hand. You're going to have to get it replaced."

She shook her head. "I need to leave."

Again he ignored her words. "If you think punching reinforced steel and glass hurt, wait till you have to get a limb replaced. It's going to hurt like nothing you've ever felt before."

She furrowed her brows at his statement. "But I can't feel any pain. It's all in my head."

His eyes carefully met hers and studied them. Finding the desperation and exhaustion in them he let out a heavy sigh. "We can feel pain. It's wired into us as a self-preservation feature. It prevents us from being wreckless with our bodies."

"The pain is real?" Her admission seemed to be the last straw as she fainted in his arms.

Kenshin frowned at her slumped form. She was proving to be one frustrating enigma after another. He wondered if there ever would be a time when she would cease to surprise him with every reaction.

Sliding his right arm around her torso, he used his other arm to hook underneath her knees. Kenshin lifted to his feet as he gently carried her through the quiet government facility. He took the the all-too-familiar path back to the dorms. Coming upon room 'I,' he stood waiting until an occupant of the room slid the door open.

Filling the small door frame, Sano dressed in sleepwear raised a brow at the picture before him. "What happened to little missy?"

Ignoring his question Kenshin questioned, "Is Megumi here? Yahiko's already gone for the day."

Hearing her name, Megumi wearing little more than an oversized t-shirt crossed the room and peeked around Sano's lumbering form.

"What's going on Kenshin?" Seeing his cargo and the state she was in, Megumi's eyes widened. "What did you do?"

The redhead frowned at her question. "I didn't do anything. She tried to punch her way out of the lower street exit and broke her hand."

Sano winced and Megumi nodded her head and headed back into the room. Coming back to the door a quick moment later she was tugging on a pair of sweatpants and gesturing to walk ahead. Following behind Kenshin's quick feet they entered into the Yahiko's lab.

"Set her on the table." Megumi rushed around the room switching on the surgical light looming over the medical table where Kaoru now laid. Pulling over a rolling tray table with tools laid out she set herself up next to the broken right hand. "Three of her fingers and part of her wrist and palm are going need to be replaced. I'll look for the parts in Yahiko's stockpile. Sano, go get Tsubame."

The tall droid gave a wordless response and disappeared back to whence they came. Megumi went off to rummage through the back storage room. Kenshin was left standing on the left side of Kaoru's body. He warily studied her battered and mangled hand. It tended to be an inevitability for any of the field droids to come back occasionally with some damage, but this was a first for someone getting this severely hurt within the agency walls.

Out of all the droids at MIRU, he had the misfortune of experiencing the largest amount of parts replacements. Only a small handful of his components were still originals, and he knew first hand that there was no way to get used to the pain. Each and every replaced component in his body was attached to a blisteringly agonizing memory of Yahiko, Megumi, or the old engineer working with skilled hands -especially when his heart core was replaced.

A loud slam of her left hand and a shuddering breath later, Kaoru screamed.

Once the shrill died down to desperate gasps Kenshin leaned over her face. Her eyes were clenched shut and her body thrashing. Studying her for a brief moment, Kenshin realized what needed to be done. Reaching a reassuring hand to her cheek her stroke her face in the most calming gesture he could muster. "Kaoru, look at me."

She shook her head in protest as the debilitating pain shot from her arm to her head.

"Look at me." His deep voice swept over her in a calming blanket. The unwavering tone told her that she needed to listen. Pulling the last remnants of strength from her body, she allowed for her eyes to flutter open to look at her antichrist. This man that acted as her savior with an angelic face had brought her to a living version of hell. He was no doubt a messenger from the devil himself.

"You broke your hand punching the door. Megumi is going to fix it, but there are some parts that need to get replaced." He was beyond explaining or understanding why his hand had traveled to brush gently through her loosened hair. "It's going to hurt. A lot. There's nothing we can do to get rid of the pain. We can't be shutdown or turned off for repairs."

Kenshin spared a momentary glance as Megumi returned with the necessary replacement units, and Sano with a Tsubame in tow. He caught Sano's amused look his current state, but disregard it and looked back down at panicked blue eyes.

"You're going to be okay. You just have to grit your teeth and bare it." He nodded toward the two female droids as Megumi readied her station to get started and Tsubame flited around the room getting all necessary tools and monitors. "Don't worry. Megumi knows exactly what she's doing and she's a hell of a lot faster than Yahiko is -especially with Tsubame helping out."

Gulping down the pain and nerves choking her windpipe, Kaoru tilted her head in understanding. Seeing the resolved expression on her face, Kenshin nodded to Megumi to begin. He took a small step to the side and back to give them some space he saw Megumi's skilled hands cut through her skin with a scalpel.

A muffled scream seethed through her teeth as her skin was peeled back and red liquid pooled around the open wound. The expert mechanic continued peeling the skin off and dropping the bits off into a basin off to the side. A few tense minutes later nothing of her skin was left from an inch below her wrist to the tips of her finger tips. What remained were wires, metal bonelike structures and joints, various thin tubing lacing through the different parts.

Kaoru chanced a glimpse of her hand. It was vision straight out of a science fiction horror film. Needing to be distracted by anything but the pain and the evidence contrary to her humanity, she turned her head to Kenshin. Frightened of everything that was happening to her and the uncertainty of what this all would mean, she desperately needed her antichrist. Her left hand desperately reached out for him. A moment that felt like an eternity passed while he looked at her quizzically, but then his right hand came forward and she grasped it as her lifeline.

"I know that hurt Kaoru, but it's only going to get worse when I start replacing some of these pieces." Megumi's voice was reassuring and confident like a veteran physician. "I just need you to stay as still as possible so I can do this as quickly without crossing any wires. Once everything is done the pain will go away. I promise."

Kaoru nodded her head in response, but her eyes never left Kenshin. The first snip of a live wire and an ear shattering scream echoed through the room and down the bight white halls of the compound.

xXx

End Note: As usual, please leave your thoughts and comments (I appreciate each one). Also, don't expect updates to frequently but I promise that this fic is not abandoned nor will it be abandoned. But with grad school and a future study abroad planned I'll be busy. Maybe once I join the real world I'll have more time to write for fun? Let's hope so.


	8. Trapped

Author Notes: Again, after a long absence I'm back. I'm currently working on original fiction, and if my fanfic writing rate is any indication, I'll get my "novel" done in the next decade. Oh well. Hope you enjoy.

**Disclaimer: The **_**Rurouni Kenshin**_** world and all characters depicted are a creation of mangaka, Watsuki Nobuhiro.**

**Trapped**

By Hoshi-ni-Onegai

"I don't get why you never let me drive."

Aoshi spared his spry partner glance. "I let you drive the cars."

Misao rolled her eyes in response, "But never on a motorcycle."

"We're supposed to be inconspicuous."

"No one would stare if you hung on while I drove the bike."

He fell into his usual silent self as he led them through the garage to the entryway to the facility. Just as quickly as he rattled off his access code and the door slid open, a piercing scream leaked out into the garage.

"What the hell?" Misao quickly weaved around Aoshi and made her way toward the lab where the screams were coming from. Crossing the common, she encountered Sano. "What's going on?"

Seeing the two droids back from their mission Sano let out a long sigh. The screams continued on in the background. "Kaoru's getting some parts replaced by Megumi and Tsubame."

"How? Did that ass-hat send her out already?" The petite plopped down on the adjacent sofa from Sano.

"Ass-hat? Kogoro or Saitou?" Sano let out a brief laugh at her choice of words.

"Whichever. She's not ready yet." Seeing Aoshi still standing, she tugged him down next to her. "So how'd it happen?"

Sano shook his head, "She didn't leave. She punched her way into a broken hand."

"Punched?" Aoshi finally questioned.

"She... freaked out. To put it lightly."

"I was wondering how she was taking it. She is the first one of us who wasn't activated." Misao leaned back into the sofa as the screeches relentlessly continued. "How long have they been at it?"

"Four hours. They should be finishing up with the worst of it by now."

She nodded, "She's lucky Megumi and Tsubame are on the case. Last time I needed a couple of ribs replaced that kid took three times longer than the fabulous duo would have."

"He's only human." Sano shrugged, "He may be slower, but he's the guy to go to if there's an unusual situation. He did design most of us after all."

Suddenly, silence fell on the agency. Sano sighed in relief, the Kaoru's shrieks had been putting him on edge. After spending only a few short minutes in the lab with the other droids, he had to leave lest it drive him insane.

Misao looked toward the direction of the lab, half expecting to see someone coming. "Where's Kenshin anyways? Did he get sent out?"

"No. He's here. In the lab."

"Really?" She exchanged a look with Aoshi. "Is he brushing up on droid first aid 101?"

Sano smirked knowingly before answering. "He's there holding her hand."

Her brows shot up in surprise, Aoshi eyes widened a small fraction indicating his as well. "Wait, Kenshin who? Our Kenshin?"

"Kenshin robot. You know, yay tall redhead?" He indicated with his hand an inaccurate height. "He's in there comforting the new girl."

Misao sat up and edged forward on her seat. "Do you think he's..."

"Oh yeah."

The small droid grinned. "About time."

xXx

A groan escaped his lips as cruel consciousness crept back into his mind. Koshijiro wasn't sure if he had ever felt as sore as he did now during all his seventy-two years. The uncomfortable rusty metal chair he was tied to wasn't helping matters either.

He took in the state of the room he was in as he tried to think back to his last memory. He was taking his usual early morning stroll on the beach when his world went black. So there wasn't much to remember, but it was a mystery as to how he ended up in a typical horror film situation.

The room was cement on all sides from floor to ceiling. A lone exposed wire light bulb fixture dangled precariously from the center of the room. In the corner of the room was the only visible exit and entrance -a steel door.

Tugging on his arms a bit he winced from the soreness that vibrated through his body. Koshijiro had always considered himself spry for his age. But no matter how much he prided in keep up with his health, he wasn't exactly preparing for a sudden kidnapping. Or whatever this situation proved to be.

His arms were lashed behind him while his legs were strapped to the front legs of the chair. The dryness in his throat was painful but he tried to clear it anyways. A rasped whisper finally made its way out, "Hello?"

There was a long moment without an answer. The moment he spoke the word he regretted it. Maybe it was better that he was left alone in a room; he wasn't privy to the intentions or sadistic nature of his captors. But the problem was that there was no way he would be able to escape the binds and the windowless room with a likely locked metal door. He would have wasted away and died forgotten. However, aside from being strapped down in an unknown room, he was unharmed. For the life of him, Koshijiro could not fathom what anyone would want with a retired shrimp fisherman.

"Hello?" He attempted again. His options were limited and confronting his captors seemed like the only viable choice.

After a lengthy tense moment the echoes of footsteps could be heard from the gap underneath the door. The footsteps that held a slight shuffle to them reached right before the room as he could see the shadows of the feet from underneath the entrance. Taking in a deep breath he subconsciously held it while the door unlocked with a heavy clank and slowly swung open with a haunting creak.

What stepped forward surprised him more than his currently situation. A man, nay a boy, who was a spitting image of his Kaoru looked back at him. If he hadn't known better, Koshijiro would have sworn that his daughter had chopped off her hair and was playing an elaborate cruel joke in drag. But on second study he knew this wasn't Kaoru. This boy's eyes were slightly smaller, nose slightly wider, lips slightly thinner, all in all he was slightly not Kaoru.

The feature that frightened him about this otherwise unassuming boy were his eyes. His lips were grinning but his eyes were dead. The only part that was identical to Kaoru were the shade of blue of his eyes, but they reflected no emotion nor life like his daughter's did.

Moving toward the older man he continued to grin. When he leaned forward and studied the state of the current prisoner. "Sorry about the treatment, but we don't exactly have four-star concierge hotel service here."

The boy's voice was a masculine version of the voice he cherished and the similarities he found between this boy and Kaoru terrified him beyond reason. "Who are you?"

"Oh, come on. You know my twin sister." The boy's grin stayed in place. "Mind if I call you dad? I know Kaoru does."

xXx

Finding herself on the familiar bed again Kaoru stared up at the white ceiling. Her gaze traced over the track lights dotted through the expanse of the room. She held a vacant expression but her mind was reeling.

She recalled the pain she went through and cringed. Maybe that was something she didn't need to think about too much. The pain was something she didn't think possible with a combination of sumo wrestler laying out her nerves tap-dancing on them, chewing on rusted nuts and bolts, and an earsplitting metal grind grating her senses. She had expected the pain to subside or dull, but it was constant and unwavering.

Kenshin had stayed with her the entire time. She never let go of his grasp and he didn't attempt to pull away. Kaoru had no logical explanation as to why she chose him as her savior during the most intense moment of her life, but his hand kept her grounded and prevented her from losing her mind.

After having her arm 'patched up' as doctor Megumi had put it, her hand was dipped into an organic-based silicon resin that clung to her metal skeleton as skin. The good doctor had called it 'reskinning,' but unlike the name indicated, the sensation was comforting and felt like a warm blanket cocooning her hand. A few short minutes after the resin formed and hardened to skin-like consistency the creases in her palm and fingers reappeared along with her fingernails and the soft fuzz of hair. It looked like it always had, and felt just as good.

Koaru had expected grogginess or a dulling pain that would persist until she was healed. But the pain disappeared just as soon as Megumi reconnected the last wire. Tsubame had timidly explained it as recovery time was as quick as it would be for a computer. Once it, or she, was fixed, it was fixed.

Each new discovery and process drove the point home further and she could feel the humanity slip from her grasp.

Once the torture was over Megumi quickly switched to wanting to do a thorough revision. At that moment Kenshin let go of her hand and sat on a stool in the corner of the room. He remained there for the entire duration of the long examination. Apparently there was nothing to plug in to check the status of her internal condition. From what Megumi hinted at, she was a new model with a wireless connection. For all she knew, they were just toying with her as she was told to lie still on the table for an extended period of time. An hour or so into her test Yahiko waltzed in to start his work day bright and early. He yelled at her for a good twenty minutes, then became giddy as he started scrolling through all the readings the computer were supposedly picking up from her wifi router -or something like that.

As soon as the computer was done running the scanning program, they began checking her movements. She felt ridiculous jumping, bending, twisting, and flexing everything from her toes to her eyebrows. The entire time Kenshin remained in his corner, but appeared to have picked up some literature and was flipping through a manual of sorts.

Yahiko mentioned that her left leg balance was slightly off. She lied down on the table he easily slit open her lower back, adjusted some screws, and closed her back up. The adjustment was uncomfortable, but not painful -now that she had a new frame of reference for pain. He expressed his surprise for her lack of need of repair, and then sent her on her way as he returned to pour over the reading he began combing over earlier.

Megumi seemed to be doing something similar. Somewhere between her jumping jacks and pushups, Tsubame had slipped out of the lab. From the looks of it, Kaoru was done and headed toward the door. As she passed by Kenshin he stopped her. Wordless his lifted her up and carried her out of the room as if he were a determined bridegroom. Her protests didn't last very long when she felt all the strength within her leave and she slumped into his arms.

Moments later he was laying her down on his bed. He poured her a ridiculously tall glass of vodka and set it on the nightstand next to her. With that, he left her alone in his room again. And this was where she found herself. Slowly regaining the energy to be able to sit up, her body felt like a tone of weight pressing down on her. She sluggishly made her way toward the glass of liquor Kenshin had left for her.

Propping herself up on the headboard, her trembling fingers reached for the drink. She let out a relieved sigh when she gripped the glass and took a long drink. Once she finished it, she could feel her strength seeping back into her.

Even though Kenshin gave no explanation for her sudden loss of strength, she figured that the drink was there for a reason. He was proving to be an evil, but useful, bastard.

With her energy back, she pulled herself up and headed for the door. It was decent of this nuthouse to fix her up, but they were insane if they thought she was going to stick around or be an assassin. However, when she reached the door she was disappointed to find it not opening. She tried the access panel multiple times but there was no indication the door was budging. Her previous experience with steel reinforced doors did not bode well so she backed away from her current battle.

Going over nook and cranny of the room she found no plausible exit. The ventilation shaft was far too small; she might have fit a leg through but nothing else. There were no windows and no doors out. The bathroom proved no better.

Frustrated she grabbed a new bottle of vodka from the freezer and began taking long swigs of it straight from the container. She glared at the main door. They obviously didn't trust her to not attempt something again and had made her a prisoner in the leprechaun's room.

Taking another swig she marched over to the phone sitting on the nightstand. Yesterday, when she had asked for a phone call to contact her father people had evaded the request. It had been over twenty-four hours, nearing forty-eight actually, since her last call with her father. If history was any indication, he was panicking and calling the National Guard to find her in the 'big city.' Grabbing the phone she dialed the familiar number for her home on Oshima.

She frowned when it rang for the fourth time and the machine picked up. Per her father's usual routine, he should be home right now watching the news channel and complaining about the growing crime rate. Instead she heard the deep recognizable voice of her father, "You've reached Kamiya residence. Leave me a name and phone number and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."

The beep went off. She sighed into the receiver. "Hey dad. It's me. I don't know where you are, maybe over at the police station calling in a favor to send a search party out to find me." She considered her statement a moment then shook her head, better to not involve the small town police station in her current situation. "Anyways, I just wanted to say that I'm safe... I guess. Oh, and I don't have my phone on me so you can probably stop with all the voicemails you're probably leaving."

She waited a moment more to give a chance for Koshijiro to pick up, but there was only the dead air of the machine recording her message. "There's something I need to tell you, so I'll try again later. Bye, love you."

Hanging up the phone she frowned as she polished off the rest of the bottle. What had she been planning on telling dear old dad if he had picked up? That she was a robot? That the weird tattoo was her serial number? That she was a misplaced assassination machine designed by the Japanese government to carryout covert operations?

As Kaoru pondered over her next move and the potential conversation she would need to have with her father, she felt a familiar presence come toward the room. She expectantly waited as the door opened to reveal a smirking Sano. "How you feeling there missy?"

She rolled her eyes and got up from where she sat on Kenshin's bed. "Better now. But it hurt like hell."

"I know, I was there. But you probably didn't notice since you were too busy making googly eyes with Kenshin."

If it were possible, she could have sworn that his smirk became smugger. "Those were not googly eyes. Those were: 'holy shit this is the worst pain I have ever felt and I'm blaming you but you're the only one I kind of know here so I need you to be moral support' eyes."

He laughed and plopped down on the couch and gestured her to take a seat. "That's a mouthful."

"And that's why I was letting my glare do all the talking." She took a seat on the other end of the couch.

"I'm hurt Kaoru. What do you mean Kenshin's the only one you know? We had fun yesterday, I'm your buddy."

"Buddy? More like assistant prison warden." Her eyes narrowed as she considered his casual conversation posture.

"I'm assuming head warden is Kenshin?" Seeing the indication that he was correct, he shrugged. "Kenshin's the taciturn mysterious guy. I'm the fun one."

Kaoru considered his words then questioned, "What's his deal anyways? Why does he..."

"Seem like he has a pole shoved up his ass?" She let a small smile escape at his description and nodded. "Like with any antihero, there's a dark history. A long one."

"What kind of history?"

"The kind you should ask him about." He noticed that her curiosity was peeked for the stealthy redhead. "Either way, I wasn't there for the fallout. I've only heard what I've been cleared to be briefed on."

She frowned, "Am I cleared to be briefed on anything?"

"With the stunt you pulled last night? Maybe not until they feel you're more stable." He studied while asking his next question. "So why'd you punch the door?"

"To ditch this loony bin." Observing her unmarred right hand she continued, "Kenshin said I'm this really strong robot built for destruction. I didn't think a door could slow me down in my escape."

"You thought you'd punch right through it?"

She glared at him, "I didn't realize this was a maximum security prison."

Sano shook his head. "You don't get it. This isn't a prison, it's your safe house. That door is to keep hacked droids out, not keep us in."

"Then why can't I leave?" Her voice was pleading, and it reminded him of a lost child.

"They can't risk you falling into the wrong hands. It's bad enough they have your brother."

Hearing the mention of her brother again she fell silent. This hacked droid was an apparent blemish on MIRU's record, and she was currently getting punished for it. The day before while Sano had showed her around had been interesting, bordering on fun; but Kenshin had crushed all that when he told her what she really was. No, she was not an expensive toy, she was a weapon.

"I can't believe I'm not human."

"Not physically, but close enough. I don't really see a 'them' and 'us' like some people around here." Sano answered amicably.

Kaoru looked back at him, "I breathe, cry, sleep, and bleed. How can I not be human?"

"Yeah, but none of that makes you human. What it means is that the engineers are really good at faking the look of a real boy or girl. That's what it's for, it's all really an expensive disguise." He leaned forward and ruffled her hair playfully. "But the way I figure that's just our parts and how we move. What's the difference between the electrical synapses firing in a mushy grey brain and the electrical current triggering our memory drives and chipsets?"

She mulled over his words, then let a smile slip on her lips and to her eyes. "You like what you are."

"I know it's not rainbows and puppies, but yeah, I like it. And I also believe in what we do." He got up and gestured for her to follow. "Don't listen to the idiot Kenshin. He makes us seem like walking doomsday devises with lowly existences."

"Then you've... killed?" Her voice was tentative as she trailed closely behind him as he made his way toward the door. Seeing his slightly nod in affirmation, "Aren't there rules against it?"

Stepping through the door he turned slightly to raise a confused brow, "Against what?"

"Killing?"

"Oh, what? Asimov's laws of robotics?" He shrugged, "That book got tossed out long before they even drew up Kenshin."

"But it doesn't bother you? What they designed you for."

"I do what needs to be done for the greater good of the country." He glanced back at her. "And there's someone I want to protect and give a life to. I'm optimistic enough to think that this isn't forever and one day they won't have a use for me and I might be free if Japan becomes peaceful again."

She tugged on his sleeve for him to stop and look at her. "Do you honestly believe that?"

"I have to." Sano smiled. "I can't keep doing this if this is it."

xXx

"If this isn't the worst idea I ever heard I don't know what is." Yahiko pointed out as he pressed on Kogoro.

The older man raised a brow at his subordinate. It wasn't that he didn't understand where the young engineer was coming from, but this was beyond his jurisdiction. "They won't expect us to let her out."

"Yeah, because that would be incredibly stupid."

"Exactly." Kogoro looked around the conference room to see if there was any support for his plan aside from Saitou. Seeing none he sighed. "She's the bait and the grifter."

"The grifter?" Misao let out a laugh, "She's not activated right? And she's a bookworm? She's not going to be able to pull this off."

Kogoro had called a meeting early in the morning after finalizing a covert assignment with Saitou the night before. All field droids were needed on this particular plan, and currently all were opposed -save for Sano and Kaoru who had yet to show up. Megumi and even Tsubame mentioned this was a bad idea, but he had already decided: Kaoru would be sent on an assignment.

"She won't be alone."

"She's not going." At the first words Kenshin spoke from the start of the meeting everyone turned to look at the usually quiet droid. "She's not stable."

Saitou raised a brow. "You mean the incident last night? It's learned its lesson."

Kenshin's eyes narrowed and he made the motion of marching up to the offender, but locked his teeth and hung back.

Kogoro sighed and shook his head. "I understand your concerns Kenshin, but this agency doesn't stop because we have someone knew."

"Then I don't see why you can't just do this with the usual crew. Leave Kaoru here with me and Tsubame." Megumi tried to rationalize with the boiling tempers in the room.

"We're not babying her. She's going out." Saitou snapped.

Misao jumped back in on the debate, even though Aoshi motioned for her to stand back. "She's a loose cannon. She'll be more of liability than an asset."

"Then activate her." Kogoro's words pierced through the crowd and straight to Yahiko. "Figure her out in the next fifteen hours. If not, she's getting activated and being sent out."

With his final word Kogoro headed out the door toward the control room with Saitou following close behind. The droids were left alone in the growing silence until Yahiko slammed his fists down on the long table that took up the majority of the room. Megumi clasped the young man's shoulder and mustered an encouraging smile. "We'll look the data over with you. We'll figure her out."

Fisting his fingers through his hair, the engineer reluctantly nodded and left the room quietly. Once he was out of earshot Megumi faced Kenshin. "I can't guarantee anything."

"I know."

She considered him for a moment then faced toward the door along with the other droids. "She's coming. Don't do or say anything to set her off." Megumi left with Tsubame trailing behind.

A few moments later Sano and the trouble-causing raven haired droid could be seen through the glass doorway. Sauntering in without a word, Sano settled into a chair. Kaoru glared at him for good measure. She was now stuck without further instruction on how to proceed at the head of the room.

Even after finding out that her ability to sense people, and apparently droids, was something she was wired to do, having six pairs of eyes staring at her upon entering a room was still unsettling. There were two new faces present, and her intuitions told her that these two must be the illusive two droids.

The male droid was tall, taller than the lumbering Sano, with ice blue eyes and black hair. His face serious and unwavering, she suspected that there was a rapid mind behind the silent façade. She filed him in her mind as a similar type to Kenshin: distant and calculating.

The girl, on the other hand, was the complete opposite of what she had anticipated her to be. While her partner optimized the spy look, she was a spry little thing. She appeared to be a little shorter than Kaoru, had long dark hair braided down her back, and large expressive eyes.

She gave a toothy grin and bounded up to Kaoru. "Hi, I'm Misao." She gestured to tall, dark and handsome. "And that's Aoshi. You'll be joining our team."

"Kaoru." She carefully replied back. The tall one, Aoshi, looked as if he had never cracked a smile in his life. The little one, Misao, on the other hand was a completely different story.

"Come on." Misao tugged Kaoru toward the door she just came through. "We're going to prep you for the assignment."

"Wait, what assignment?" This was sounding more and more like a bad science fiction movie plot.

Aoshi followed behind the two female droids out the door. He paused a moment before exiting to spare a glance back at Kenshin. "Don't forget what this might mean."

Kenshin glared at Aoshi's retreating form. "I don't want to hear it Sano."

Sano chuckled and leaned back in his chair. "But you need to."

"We barely know her. We'll barely miss her." Kenshin's words were resolute, but he knew that they betrayed him.

"Sure about that?" Sano looked straight into his friend's face. "I may have a solution for you, that's if you want to keep her the way she is."

Kenshin narrowed his eyes skeptically. "That's not my decision to make."

"True, but you should be the one to give her that option." He mulled over his words a bit, then added: "And she should know what getting activated might mean for her."

Tearing his eyes away, Kenshin stared at a random spot on the wall. "She knows."

Sano frowned, "What do you mean she knows?"

"I told her. Yesterday night."

Before the next second was up, Kenshin blocked a well aimed fist to head on the behalf of Sano. His face remained calm despite the scowl that his taller friend held. "The hell is wrong with you! You tell her she's a weapon for killing and that her memory could get wiped clean all at once? No wonder she went berserk."

Sano attempted swinging his other fist toward Kenshin, but was once again blocked. Kenshin sighed, "I regret it now."

"You're lucky it wasn't more than a hand she had to get replaced." He shoved away from the red head with a glare. "You know what? I take back everything I've said up to now. I don't think you deserve her."

The comment pierced into Kenshin with a sharpness he didn't expect. The blatant truth that rested behind Sano's words made it that much worse.

"If you're so hell bent on dying, why don't you at least protect your so-called replacement until your heart core gives out?" Sano growled and stormed out of the room, "You're not worth much else to any of us anymore with that attitude."

Kenshin was left alone in the large room. The echo of his thoughts reverberated through his head and off the stark white walls. He couldn't explain it, but he was growing attached to the new droid. There was something about her that drew him in, and it seemed to bring out the worst in him. He attempted to trample down the weird and awkward feeling that seemed to be bubbling out of him. There was no place for misfired chipset data. He had already chosen his path and Kaoru veered him off track.

In that moment he resolved himself. He would do exactly as Sano suggested, he would protect her until the day his heart core failed him. She would take his place in MIRU, and he would finally have a chance at peace.


	9. The Girl in Question

Author Notes: Trust me, I'm not a big fan of reading weird grammar, verb tenses, misspellings, and dropped words; but I never am able to catch my mistakes. I am a weird grammar Nazi when it comes to editing other people's writing, but for my own I get lazy. It's a terrible trait. Maybe I'll try to recruit a beta. Any takers?

**Disclaimer: The **_**Rurouni Kenshin**_** world and all characters depicted are a creation of mangaka, Watsuki Nobuhiro.**

**The Girl in Question**

By Hoshi-ni-Onegai

Kaoru chewed on her lower lip as she listened carefully to Aoshi explain the "plan." From what she gathered she would as a grifter. Whatever that was. After leaving the conference room earlier, she was led to a new room. It was a small room with random papers and maps pinned all over the walls. In the center of the room was a table where the three-droid intelligence team gathered. Despite not knowing the first thing about reading blueprints, Kaoru could manage following along.

When Aoshi raised a brow at her, she figured if there was going to be a question and answer session at all, this was it. "Why am I being let out after the stunt I pulled last night? And why isn't Misao doing this instead of me?"

Misao shrugged from her place next to Aoshi. "Consider it a test drive."

"Okay..." She would let that question drop –this was the third time they had evaded it. "Then what's up with this outfit?"

Kaoru tugged at the indecently short hem of her dress, which caused the top portion to inch downward. There was no winning with this dress -if she could even call it a dress. The clingy hot pink satin material was leaving nothing to the imagination. She was convinced that this would have qualified as a tube top in society's eyes. The strapless tube dress fell just shy of exposing her panties to the world. Correction: not panties, a thong. She wasn't sure how Misao had talked her into undergarments.

"What? You look good." Misao grinned.

Kaoru narrowed her eyes and swept over the other two's outfits. They were dressed head to toe in black, appropriately dressed for the government sanctioned covert mission they were getting ready for.

She fidgeted with her skirt again, "I look like a hooker."

"No, a high class call girl." Misao amended as she handed Kaoru a small gun with a holster. "Here, hide this."

"Where?" Kaoru incredulously questioned.

The smaller girl considered the dress for a beat, then pointed to the thigh. Kaoru couldn't help grumbling as she took the gun and hiked the skirt up and strapped the garter-like holster around her left thigh.

Straightening her dress, she frowned. "I'm going to look like a tranny with a bulge between my legs."

"A high class tranny call girl." Misao added while grinning and handing her a pair of patent black five inch heels.

Kaoru shook her head at them. "I'm going to break an ankle or my neck in those."

"You'll be fine." She shoved the shoes into the skeptical droids arms. "Just word of advice: don't get too hurt."

"Too hurt?"

Misao shrugged, "Well, you're going to get hurt. That's a given. But you want to keep the destruction down to a minimum."

Kaoru flexed her recently repaired hand in reaction. "I think I know what you mean. The replacement hurt like hell."

"Yeah. Just keep these tips in mind. Adjustments are uncomfortable. Reskinning is warm and fuzzy. Replacements rips you a new one. And a headshot is also a killshot." Seeing the worried look cross Kaoru's face Misao added, "We'll be close by the whole time."

"And I'll be right by your side." Sano waltzed in and gave her a thorough once over. "Lookin' good missy."

Kaoru frowned at his comment. She took in his outfit and raised a brow. Sano was wearing a white suit and a black silk dress shirt with the collar popped out over the jacket collar. "I thought disco was dead."

"Not according to the yakuza. Just lookin' the part."

She rolled her eyes. "In a past life you probably were part of the yakuza."

"Misao and I will monitor and go in from the back." Aoshi spoke up, drawing attention back to the plan. "You two ask for a VIP room."

Kaoru bit her lip and mumbled out, "They're going to let us get back there that easily?"

"If you bat your eyelashes enough." Sano smirked, "If not, you could show them a boob."

Misao smacked Sano on the arm. "Pep talk, not scare the shit out of her."

Sano laughed then gestured for Kaoru to follow. "Come on. We have to figure out some stuff before we head out."

Leaving the intelligence office Kaoru followed Sano into the common room. She sat down on one of the couches, maneuvering her skirt to keep from flashing Sano more than she was willing. Sano went to the wet bar and came back with two tall classes of Everclear. He grinned and clinked his glass against hers. "Cheers."

He proceeded to run through the mission plan with her, and it surprised her how detail oriented and thorough he was being. Although he did throw in an occasion sassy comment, he was concentrated and adamant she knew everything in an out.

Whether it was because she was a droid or not, she was fast at absorbing and processing information. She grabbed onto every detail and stored it away. Sano only had to run through it once.

After the technical information was dealt with, Sano refilled their drinks. "So why'd you pick me as your partner for the mission?"

Kaoru took a sip of her drink and considered her answer a moment. "I don't know Aoshi."

"What about your roommate? You know he's the best droid we have right?" Sano questioned.

"He's too short, especially with these death traps on my feet." She paused but then pushed forward, "And I don't think he likes me."

"Really?" Sano grin was smug.

"Yeah, I think he actually hates robots." She added.

He laughed, "As in all of us?"

"Well, he was friendly-ish before, but he then sees my tattoo and bam: he's hostile." She traced serial number on her wrist self-consciously.

"Hostile?"

"Okay, that might be a touch more dramatic than reality." She corrected, "But I swear, he's always glaring at me."

Sano chuckled, "He's programmed to glare."

"Seriously?" This would explain a lot.

"No, but you would think he was getting paid to by how often he does."

"So I shouldn't take in personally?" She questioned.

"Oh, you should." He shrugged, "Something about you bugs him."

Sano glanced toward the hall, and Kaoru did the same when she could feel the droid in question headed their way. Sano gestured for her finish her drink.

She wordlessly took the glass and gulped down the drink. She spared the grinning droid a glance when he added, "You just need to give him time to warm up to you."

Setting the glass down she gave him a skeptical look, and then turned toward the redhead that stepped into the room. He seemed to be a man on a mission and marched up to her. Kenshin reached down, grabbed her arm and tugged her up. "I need to talk to you."

She frowned at his manhandling but stumbled along as Kenshin dragged her away from the room. Kaoru wasn't sure how she made it all the way to Kenshin's room without losing balance in the stiletto heels, but she somehow managed. She suspected it had something to do with her robotic condition.

He finally let go once the door to his room was closed and looked her square in the face. He opened his mouth to say something but snapped it shut. Kaoru was stunned by the amount of emotions that crossed his features in the following seconds. Something about the way his eyes momentarily flashed amethyst with a hint of worry tugged at her heart, but just as quickly they burned back to their usual amber. She was getting a peek back to the man she met in her apartment, before he knew the truth about her.

Maybe it wasn't an act. Maybe he was more human than he let on.

"What's wrong Kenshin?" She couldn't explain why concern laced her voice when he was the one that dragged her around and acted like he hated her.

Kenshin lifted his hand as if to push back an unruly lock of her hair, but he clenched it into a fist and pulled back before touching her. A pregnant pause fell between them until he finally spoke. "If you had the option of not losing your memories, but had to trust me completely, would you take it?"

"Yes." Kaoru looked just as surprised by her admission and he was. After a brief moment of contemplation, Kaoru knew why she answered the way she did. Despite Kenshin's attitude toward her being a little less than desirable, she couldn't deny that he had taken care of her. Even if his words were cold, his actions were never cruel.

The faint evidence of a smile pulled at the corner of his lips, but it quickly disappeared. He nodded in answer and point to the bed. She glanced at the bed, then back to him and quirked a brow. He shook his head, but she could have sworn there was a small trace of a blush on his cheeks. "Just sit down."

Doing as told she watched him as he picked something up off the nightstand. He handed the item to her. It looked like a cell phone with a traditional nine-digit keypad. Turning it in her hands she studied it, but could not figure out what it was.

"It's what we use to extract mission memories from droids after they've been out in the field." He sat next to her on the bed, but faced ahead and did not look at her. "I'm going to download all your memories into."

She furrowed her brows. "Wouldn't that be like having my home movies? That doesn't mean I'll be me again."

He shook his head again. "Your internal monologue and thought process comes with it. It helps us analyze what happens in the field. It's the only solution I have to preserving your memories, in case the activation erases everything."

She turned slightly to gaze at him; she waited until he finally glanced at her. "Why are you doing this for me Kenshin?"

There it was again. His name. There was something about the way she said his name that had bothered him, and now he figured it out. Kaoru voice caressed over it like it belonged to a person with history, not a machine.

"I don't know." He raked his fingers through his hair and sighed in frustration. He rested his elbows on his knees and leaned his forehead against his hands. "Maybe because I'm tired of MIRU's bullshit."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm tired of being a puppet." He peered up at her through his bangs. "And maybe the thought of being able to save you gives me hope."

She tilted her head to the side to be parallel with his eyes. "Hope?"

He smirked forlornly, "Your free will."

Her breath caught in her throat at his admission. There was so much more to this man than he revealed. From the hints dropped by the rest of the agency, there was a dark past that he was running from but never escaped. He hated droids being referred to as inanimate objects, but was the one that was trying his hardest in divorcing his emotions from his actions. The fact that she could figure that much about him assured her that he was not a lost cause.

"What do I have to do?" Kaoru asked as she handed the device back to him.

"Nothing, just lay back and give it permission to copy you." He got up from his seat and waved her to lie down.

She nodded and rested her head against the pillow. "How do I give it permission?"

He pressed a long sequence of numbers into the keypad and set the device on the nightstand. "You'll know."

"You said I would have to trust you for this..." Kaoru let her question hang in the air as she felt a prodding at the back of her mind.

"You have to trust me to restore your memories after you've been activated." He added, "And you have to trust that I'll be able to convince you to let me do it."

The prodding in her mind became more incessant and she inherently knew it was the device. Kaoru knew she would have to surrender herself to the creeping darkness that the device brought. As her eyes slipped shut, she caught the small fragile smile on Kenshin's lips.

xXx

"Stop me if this is completely coming from left field, but why don't you just ask her?" Sano spoke up from his seat in the lab.

Yahiko, Megumi, and Tsubame had spent the entire day going through all of Kaoru's readings. According to the information they extracted from the generation K even, all but one of her faculties seemed to be working.

"What? And ask her, 'hey, so how did you wake up?'" Yahiko snapped at the tall droid in frustration. He usually never found himself so stumped by an engineering question. Women, sure, they were a complete mystery. But robots? The only real anomaly before Kaoru was Kenshin, and he was an entirely different story. Kenshin was designed and built by the previous robotics engineer. Kaoru, on the other hand was designed painstakingly by Yahiko. He had been overzealous when drawing her and her brother up, he had wanted to implement so many new functions; but now it was biting him in the ass.

"Well, yeah." Sano scoffed at the look the young engineer and the other droids gave him. "Do you guys even know how she woke up? Did she wake up in the box? In a gutter? Randomly walking down the street?"

"He does have a point." Tsubame said toward Yahiko. "We could just ask for her earliest memory."

Yahiko groaned and threw back his head, hitting it against the wall in the process. He cradled his head in pain and then narrowed his eyes at Sano. "Why didn't I even think of that?"

Sano shrugged, "Because you're not as brilliant as I am."

Rolling his eyes, Yahiko pointed toward the door. "Then do me the favor of fetching her, genius."

Sano frowned at the boys tone and shook his head. "Way ahead of you. The girl is already on her way."

Yahiko eyebrows shot up in question, but Megumi spoke up to clarify. "Don't worry, he didn't radio from his thick skull -not that we can. She was already walking this way."

Just then Kaoru's head tentatively peeked into the laboratory. Her eyes searched the premises, but looked defeated after scanning the occupants. Looking toward Sano she shyly questioned, "Where's Kenshin?"

Sano lifted a brow at her question, but answered without delving even though he wanted to. "He already left with Aoshi and Misao. They have to get there earlier to secure their locations."

She chewed on her lip and nodded. Kaoru had woken up alone in the room. No sign of Kenshin or the small memory device. She even wondered if she had dreamt it, but then how else could she explain waking up on Kenshin's bed while dressed in her outfit for the mission? She was never one for naps, and this seemed like an odd moment to start.

She stared for a long moment at Sano, and then at Megumi and Tsubame looking over data on a computer screen. "You all look so different," the comment slipped out of Kaoru before she could help it.

Megumi looked up from her work and questioned, "What do you mean? From humans?"

"No, you guys look perfect. Too beautiful and attractive even." Kaoru adamantly shook her head, "You look so different from each other. I don't know. I was expecting to meet a twin or something. You know, like I was made from a mold or something."

"Oh don't worry, you're all very unique." Yahiko said with pride oozing from his voice. "Just like your activation devices."

"My what?" Kaoru tilted her head in question.

Yahiko stood from his seat and approached her. "You know, the thing that looks like a smart phone that was in the box with you."

Kaoru frowned at his description, "What box?"

"The gigantic white box you came in?" Yahiko said as if she was an idiot for asking.

At his tone, she rolled her eyes and taunted, "I'm not a Barbie, I didn't come in a box."

"Where did Kamiya Koshijiro find you?" He could barely control the rising panic in his voice.

"Where all fathers find their daughters: washed up on the beach." She answered nonchalantly.

"Wait, are you telling me your box and everything in it is gone?" Yahiko couldn't hide his all out panic now.

Kaoru ignored his rising mood and shrugged. "If there was a box, it's probably at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean."

Yahiko let out an exaggerated sigh and racked his fingers through his hands. "At least it's not in the wrong hands, not that any of it will be useful after tonight. Do you at least have your tag?"

At the mention of the object, it recalled memories of the first day she met her father. "The metal hospital bracelet with the barcode?"

"Yes!" His faced perked at her description.

She pondered the object over a moment, and then answered. "My dad has it."

Yahiko's eyes widened a fraction but he quickly contained himself. "Oh well, then we'll get it later then."

"So you woke up in the water." Megumi thought aloud to cut into the conversation quickly. Kaoru wondered about that for a briefly but shook it off.

"No, I woke up in my father's house. I don't remember anything before that. Anything I know is based on what he told me."

Megumi turned her attention to Yahiko along with Tsubame. "The pressure from the water?"

Yahiko tapped his chin in thought, considering the theory. "We don't know how deep she was. For all we know, she switched on when she was on a boat and fell in."

Megumi frowned, her voiced edged with sarcasm. "Maybe she's hacked and was sent in to infiltrate the agency."

Yahiko narrowed his eyes at the smart-alecky comment. "This is a really elaborate if that were true."

Megumi bit back, "Then I think the pressure from being so deep in the ocean triggered her."

"She's designed for depths up to two hundred meters." Yahiko snapped back, not appreciating any insinuations about his design.

"Like you said, we don't know how deep she was." She then added, "Maybe an alarm system went off, like a survival mechanism. You know, left over from the old design."

"And maybe you guys could stop arguing about me as if I weren't here." Kaoru growled out at the rising tension between the two and the troubled look on Tsubame's face.

Yahiko swallowed back his response to Megumi and glanced at the other three droids in the room. His stare landed on Kaoru and he nodded. "Sorry, it's just... we're frustrated and I don't have that much time."

"Actually what you have is no time at all." Sano indicated by pointing to the clock.

Seeing the time, Yahiko's face fell. He had been racing against the clock from the moment he found out Kaoru was back at MIRU inactivated. It was only a matter of time before Kogoro and Saitou grew impatient and demanded their government sanctioned weapon be put to proper use. Yahiko had just figured he would have a little more than a couple of days. There was something they weren't telling him. There must have been a valid reason to send her out on a simple mission like this one. They could have easily sent Misao out to grift in her place and he would have had more time. But now it was over. He would never find out how it had happened, being as her reboot would clear her memory drive. He had gone through all the possibilities of her retaining her memories after being activated, but it seemed less and less likely. Saitou also was not exactly a champion for a droid with the complete memory of free will.

"We need to get started." Yahiko pointed to the lab table, and Kaoru hesitantly made her way over to it and laid down. "I tried putting it off as long as possible."

Kaoru stared into the boy engineer's eyes. She could see that he meant what he said and understood. He was talking about her activation. She knew there was no way she would be released from the facility without a guarantee. They needed a company man, not a rogue droid that they had no control over.

She gulped down a heavy knot in her throat. As Yahiko was about to walk away to the computers to start the process, she tugged at his sleeve. He turned back in question.

She steadied her breath, "If I'm not myself after this, tell my father I love him. And that I'm sorry."

"Sorry about what?" Yahiko frowned.

"Sorry about... I don't know." She gave a tragic smile. "Tell him thank you. For everything."

"I will." Yahiko patted her hand to release his shirt from it.

Nodding she steeled her nerves, "Please make sure he's safe."

Yahiko hesitated over his words but replied, "He is. Don't worry, he's at a safe house."

Sano shot him a look that Kaoru couldn't see. She was already feeling her body slow down. It was different from the memory device, which felt fuzzy; this was like she was losing control of everything. Kaoru wondered if this was what dying felt like. Before she could process the thought further, her world went black.

xXx

Underneath the cover of the grated stairs that lead up to the club mezzanine, Misao whispered from her corner. "She's like any of us now. This is the best kind of mission for a rookie."

Kenshin from his own dark corner frowned at her comment and replied under his breath -aware that she would hear him perfectly. "I'm aware."

"Then stop worrying."

"I'm not worried." He spared a glance in her direction and sighed in response to her pointed look. "At least I'm not worried about her safety. She's programmed to work."

Despite her attempt at reassuring the older droid, her own reservations leaked into her voice. "We don't know how she is yet."

Hearing her legitimate concern that perpetuated his anger toward the higher ups in the agency, Kenshin couldn't hide his frustration. "Yeah, and what better time to find out than out on the field?"

"They must have their reasons." She attempted.

Kenshin shook his head and pushed off the wall. "And I'm sure it's all about their agenda."

"You can't say things like that Kenshin, they'll start suspecting something."

As he walked away to take his place, as Aoshi replaced his position against the wall, Kenshin spat out. "I'm out of fucks to give about them."

He climbed the stairs to get to the mezzanine that looked over the crowd that danced and writhed to the pumping music in the warehouse converted club. He had the perfect view of the entrance, bar, and the walkway up and toward the cluster of VIP rooms that was behind the glass further up than his current position.

This was a simple mission, having the entire intelligence unit and two from the combat team was overkill. Despite what Kenshin considered Kogoro's foolishness and sending out a newborn droid, Kenshin could appreciate the precaution. This was not a retrieval or a kill, just a collection of information. Kaoru would be expected to flirt and manipulate the target into releasing the necessary nugget of intell. She would be expected to do anything to get what the mission called for. And anything at MIRU meant anything.

He spared a glance at his watch. Punctuality was a trait they all shared. Sano and the girl in question would be walking though the club doors any second now.

When the two graced the seedy establishment with their presence, what he saw didn't exactly please him. He wasn't sure why his breath hitched in his throat or why the way Sano's arm wrapped low on Kaoru's waist bothered him so much. He also couldn't explain why the way her body plastered to the side of his and the way her head seductively leaned against Sano's shoulder bothered him so much. She usually would have been a head shorter than the towering droid, but with the stilt-like heels she expertly sported she was at a complimentary height. Her hair looked tousled, as if the two had a quick romp in the car ride over. Her azure gaze stood out more than usual by her smoky lined eyes. Her dress was hiked impossibly high, and all the male eyes in her vicinity took notice. Kaoru was sex on legs and from the look on her face she was well aware of that fact.

Her eyes absently skimmed the club as Sano steered them through the throngs of dancers. As her eyes swept up to his location, she barely acknowledged seeing him –but he knew she did. There was brief recognition in her eyes. It was a look Kenshin knew all too well; he had seen it countless times before in every new droid. The way they recognized him because they were briefed on friendly and enemy droids –something they couldn't chance preprogramming into them.

As they disappeared behind the VIP doorway, Kenshin felt a pit at the base of his stomach. It was a feeling he hadn't felt in years, and never expected to feel again after Tomoe.

He would never again speak with the human girl that looked at him with such confusion. She had seen humanity within his cold exterior and electric synapses. But that was now lost. She would never look at him the way she did before. It would never be the same. Kaoru was gone.

xXx

A/N: The set up for this story is finally pretty much done. It's a part of every story writing process that can be a bit tedious. Setting up a background world for the characters to interact in without leaving the reader in a steaming pile of wtf. I look forward to writing more chapters, but I think it will be a slow and steady pace. Please review as it really is the only gratification fanfic authors get from writing. This is a nonpaying gig, we live off of your feedback and comments.


	10. Confidence Game

Author Notes: Short chapter, sorry. Chapters are based on content, not length. We're moving right along with this story, even though the updates are slow coming. I promise, things are going to get interesting now that we're in the second act. Please read and review!

**Disclaimer: The **_**Rurouni Kenshin**_** world and all characters depicted are a creation of mangaka, Watsuki Nobuhiro.**

**Confidence Game**

By Hoshi-ni-Onegai

His left hand stroked her right knee as they sat on the wall bench seat. The room was relatively full with the littering of men that obviously looked like they served a power from the wrong side of the tracks.

As his lingering fingers inched higher and traced the hem of her dress, she playfully smacked his hand away and wagged a finger at him. "Any higher than that buddy, and you'll have to pay extra."

Takeda Kanryu, a greasy sort of man who seemed to work solely for the purpose of facilitating illegal dealings for the kingpins of the city, wrapped his wandering arm around Kaoru. He peered snidely above his glasses. "What's it going to take for you to let me fuck your girl?"

Sano, who sat on Kaoru's other side, propped his foot on his knee as he considered the question. "I don't know... I paid a pretty penny for her."

Kanryu blatantly stared down Kaoru's dress as he pressed himself closer. "I'll double it."

Sano twirled a lock of Kaoru's hair between his fingers, as if checking her quality and how much she should fetch in the market. "Triple it and I'll consider."

"Done." Kanryu grinned and pulled Kaoru onto his lap. "Do you drink on the job?"

She giggled and leaned down to look him in the eyes. "I'm never one to turn away a free drink."

"Then another round!" He yelled toward the bartender, and then he whispered back to her. "Then I want you alone."

Her voice was breathy as she grinded herself down on his lap. "I hear there are rooms in the back."

Biting back a groan he shook his head. "No, let's get out of here."

Kaoru smirked and shot a brief glance to Sano. "Gentlemen's choice."

After the drinks were brought and swiftly pounded down in record time, Kanryu all but dragged her out of the club. Kaoru kept up her award-winning act by draping herself on him. She signaled, unnoticeably to the crowds but blatant to the rest of the droid team as they remained in the shadows.

Kenshin stood back as he could only watch as Kanryu tugged her out of the club and into the night. Aoshi was next him within the next moment. "Follow them. We'll head around and patrol from ahead."

Kenshin shot the man a look before briskly walking past him. "I know my job."

"Then stop looking at her like some kind of jealous teenage boyfriend."

Kenshin couldn't lie and say he wasn't surprised by Aoshi's uncharacteristic retort, but he kept on without sparing him a glace or a word. Just as he breeched the doors he saw a large black SUV pull up and a drunken Kanryu tugging a giggling Kaoru into the back seat along with him.

Not losing any time, Kenshin ran over to the corner of the street and sped off behind them on a motorcycle.

Within the confines of the SUV Kanryu slumped back in his seat. Kaoru crawled across the leather seats and combed a hand through his hair. Pulling her fully on to his lap to straddle his hips, he licked his lips. "I needed this."

She playfully tugged on his tie and began loosening it. "Long day?"

"More like a long week."

Freeing the tie she flung it behind her, where it fell on the driver's lap. "Important guy like you, I'm sure you're kept busy."

"Yeah, but this time with a geezer." His hands gripped her thighs and yanked her closer.

"A geezer?" She tilted her head in question while she pushed his jacket off his shoulders.

"I sent in my best men out to some Godforsaken shrimp island. The guy that hired me said it was time sensitive and complicated." He sounded annoyed, "Ended up being some old fisherman."

She worked on the buttons of his shirt and slipped a hand inside. "A fisherman?"

"Yeah, some chic's father. Not sure what Shishio wants with him." He answered distractedly, "Time sensitive because he'll probably keel over any day now."

"That's all I needed." She said coldly.

With quickly movements Kanryu never saw, Kaoru swung back her arm and hit the driver. The driver slumped forward on the steering wheel as he was knocked out. The car swerved out of control into the night traffic.

Kanryu's eyes widened as he yelled out, "Who the fuck are you?"

"Where is he?" Her voice was steady as she stared at him. When he didn't immediately answer, she gripped his throat as a threat.

"Who!" Kanryu asked in desperation

"The fisherman."

"I d-don't know! Some weird kid... Sou-something took him." He sputtered out his response.

She narrowed her eyes and grabbed his right middle finger and bent it back. "You sure about that?"

"Positive! I only grabbed him!" With his final statement Kaoru punched him precisely in the throat -choking his air out.

She barely jolted as the car came to a crashing halt. She glanced outside from the tinted windows and saw that the SUV had crashed into an embankment on an overpass. Reaching for the door handle she swung it open and leapt out unscathed. Traffic shot by her until a motorcycle driver with a mess of red hair pulled up next to her.

Kenshin looked her over and nodded. "Get on."

She stepped past him. "I don't think so."

Getting off the bike he approached her as she headed toward the edge of the overpass. Below was a rapidly moving highway heading in the perpendicular direction.

"Get on. We need to leave before the city police get here." He remained within three steps of her.

She turned around, putting the edge of the overpass behind her. "Last time I got on a bike with you, I got shot at and I couldn't leave MIRU for days."

Kenshin's eyes widened at what she said. "You remember."

Kaoru inched back toward the railing. "You can't take me back there."

Demonstrating speed that not even Kaoru was ready for, Kenshin grabbed her upper arm. She swung her arm out and kicked upward with her knees. He whipped out a stun gun and arched his arm to aim it behind her left ear. Kenshin pulled the trigger, sending the electric charge through her system and frying the location of contact.

With a final sharp tug, she shoved him away and landed a giant leap's worth away from him. She cradled her skull where the stun gun contacted, she could feel and smell the char. Kaoru readied herself for another confrontation, but he made no move to approach her. He just continued to stare at her. There was a look in his amber eyes that confused her. There was something about them now that weren't there before.

Ignoring the bubbling questions, she readied herself. "Good bye Kenshin." Not sparing another moment, she back flipped off the railing and onto speeding semi truck, landing with perfect balance on its back.

Seeing that he wasn't attempting to chase after her, she stood staring back at the droid. All he did was approach the railing and watch her be rushed away. Kaoru frowned. Why was Kenshin letting her escape?

xXx

"What just happened?" Kogoro questioned, worry slipping into his voice, as he watched the satellite map display.

Tsubame rapidly typed in commands into the computer, but the two missing blinking markers on the screen were gone. Megumi was off to the side with a headset and typing away at her station. Kogoro and Saitou watched on as they waited.

"What's your status Aoshi?" Megumi spoke into the mouth piece. "And the rest of the team?" She frowned, "We kept up until the crash... No... do you have a visual?"

Getting a response, Megumi turned to the two men and shook her head. "Kenshin abandoned his bike and phone."

"He's offline. The tracker isn't working." Tsubame added while she continued rapidly at the keyboard.

Saitou took in a draw of his cigarette and glanced at Kogoro festering in worry. As he blew out smoke Saitou commented, "Another rogue."

Kogoro shot him a glare, "Don't report what you don't know."

Saitou shrugged, "You know the drill. Another rogue droid and I have the authority shut down MIRU."

Ignoring the man, the director of agency directed his attention to the two intelligence droids. "Find them. Now."

xXx

Grabbing the front edge of the trailer of the truck, Kaoru hung on as the semi exited the highway. She kept hidden and lying flat on the top as the truck pulled into a gas station to fill up. The truck pulled to a stop at the edge of the hanging gas lines at the full service station.

An attendant trotted over to the driver side window. Cutting the engine, he flung the door open and hoped out. "Fill her up will ya?"

"Sure thing sir." The attendant went about taking care of the truck as the driver ran toward the back of the station -most likely to use the bathroom.

While the attendant was distracted, Kaoru used her feline stealth and maneuverability to creep toward the front. With the window of the truck rolled down she slipped in and worked her way behind the seats. Seeing the sleeper bunk she grabbed the overnight bag underneath. Digging through she found a set of faded grey coveralls with the name "Takei" stitched on the front. Grabbing the pair of greased up boots and the cell phone on the dashboard, she swung out the window unnoticed into the shadows of the night surrounding the station.

Somewhere along the first miles of the highway, she tossed her cell phone away. The last thing she needed was the agency tracking her; she had enough trouble with the tracker she had imbedded somewhere on her. Her next problem was trying to scramble the signal before she was caught. She needed to keep moving until then.

Ducking behind a convenient store, she flipped open the dumpster lid in the back. She chucked off the patent black heels and tossed them in. Caring little about her modesty, she unzipped her dress and tossed it as well. Kaoru proceeded to take off jewelry, hair tie, gun, holster, bra, and panties. She was taking no chances with anything issued by MIRU.

Once completely stripped of everything, she tugged on the coveralls and zipped it up. Finding a rubber band in one of the pockets, she let out a small groan as she used it to keep her hair out of her face. She dreaded pulling it out and yanking out strands of hair. Rolling up the sleeves and pant legs to accommodate her small form, she stepped into the boots and tied them tightly to prevent them from slipping off.

Pulling out the phone she lifted from the truck, Kaoru knew she couldn't dial her father's house. There was no doubt that his number was monitored for incoming calls. She couldn't help frowning at the flip phone, who still really owned one of these?

Dialing a number from memory, she waited as the other line rung. After six long rings a groggy voice answered. "Hello?"

"Tsubaki-san?"

The elder female on the other side woke up a bit. "Kaoru? What's wrong? Why are you calling at this hour?"

"Sorry for calling so late, but I'm worried about my father." She played up the desperation in her voice, not that she really had to fake it that much. "I haven't heard from him in days."

"He's not visiting you?" The woman sounded worried. "When I didn't see him for a couple of days I thought he made a spontaneous visit to Tokyo to see you."

"He's not on the island?" Kaoru felt the sensation of a pit in her stomach. But how was that possible?

"Do you want me to go check on him?"

Kaoru considered her offer, but thought better of it. "I want you to call Kazunari at the police station. See if he'll swing by to check on him."

"I'll do that right now dear." Tsubaki said. "Don't worry yourself too much until you know more."

"Yeah." Kaoru knew the police wouldn't find him at home sleeping. "I take after him, I'm a worrywart."

"I'll give you a call after I find out what happened."

"My phone isn't working." It was actually confistcated by MIRU. "I'll give you a call tomorrow morning. Thank you Tsubaki."

Not waiting for a reply, Kaoru hung up. She knew very well what the results would be. Her father was caught up in the messed up violent world the crazy redhead dragged her into. She paused momentarily at the thought of Kenshin. She didn't know what to make of him.

Hearing the rumble of an engine cutting off she was pulled out of her head. There was no time. She needed to move. Sticking to the shadows she snuck around the corner of the convenience store. A heavyset man swung off motorcycle while taking off his helmet. Seeing her opportunity she approached him as he headed to the store. Pretending to be distracted she bumped into him.

Twirling around to look him in the face she frantically raised her hands. "I'm so sorry! I wasn't paying attention."

"No problem sweetheart." He spared a momentary glance before continuing onward to the store.

Kaoru watched as he ducked into the store and out of view. Walking toward the motorcycle she straddled it and tossed off the helmet revealing the keys and wallet she picked off the man. Flipping open the wallet she checked the address on the license, she then started the engine and peeled out of the parking area.

The chilled night air whipped through her hair as she sped through the city. Despite the late hour, the streets were still busy with traffic and pedestrians.

Kaoru's survival instincts were kicking in, and the activated data was working in her favor. She knew what MIRU would be doing to find her. Her tracker was no doubt pin pointing her location, but if she moved fast enough with no clear destination she had the potential of avoiding capture for at least a few hours. She needed to avoid any establishment that had a security camera, it would find her and the facial recognition software back at HQ would feed it to the intelligence droids.

She expected her mind to be a jumble after activation. A contrast of information being overwritten, but instead it was organized. The familiar accessibility of information in her mind was there as always. The only difference she felt was her programming for her missions. In the back of her mind she felt the nagging feeling of the rules and regulations, kind of like a pesky Jiminy Cricket. All Kaoru had to do was ignore it, which she didn't find difficult.

Pulling up to an apartment complex she parked the motorcycle. Avoiding the security cameras in the elevators, she took the stairs to climb up the ten flights without breaking a sweat. Coming upon the unit she needed, she used the keys to unlock the door. She carefully crept in until confirming that it was empty of any occupants.

She searched around the living room, seeing what she could find. Grabbing the laptop and a few half empty bottles of liquor, she headed toward the kitchen. Allowing the computer to boot up, she looked through the cabinets. Finding a couple of two liter bottles of soda, she cracked the seal open and flipped them over into the sink. As the contents flowed down the sink she went to the bedroom. Searching around she stuffed a few items into a small duffle she found at the bottom of the man's closet. Fishing out the keys and the wallet from her pockets, she set them on the nightstand.

Returning back to the kitchen, she located a funnel and began pouring in the contents of the liquor bottles into the plastic ones. Once one was full, she filled the other with the rest -not caring about the mixture. Returning back to her laptop, she opened up an internet browser and began a rapid concise search of crime reports in the Tokyo metropolitan area. She made a mental note of anything that seemed out of the ordinary: damage or criminal acts done by something more than human. She was well aware that her search terms were raising red flags, so she only allowed herself a few short minutes.

Shoving the bottles in the duffle, she flung it across her shoulder like a messenger bag. Kaoru knew she needed to leave. Instead of the taking the front door the way she came in, she slid open the balcony doors. Taking in her surroundings she decided on the metal drainpipe that ran the length of the building. Leaping toward it without prepping her nerves she scaled down until she reached the ground below. She needed to keep moving. There was no way she was going to let herself get caught.

xXx

"What did you tell her?" His voice was deceptively calm.

Bloodied and beaten, Kanryu struggled to see out of the only eye that hadn't swollen shut yet. He tried lifting himself off the ground but was kicked down again by Cho's boot-clad feet. The tall blonde was the least of his worries. Just as long as he stayed in the torturous hands of Cho, Kanryu considered himself comparably safe.

The man he feared more than anything was the one sitting in the high back leather chair. Shishio Makoto was a vision out of Kanryu's nightmares. The entirety of the man's body was wrapped tightly in bandages, with only his mildly amused eyes and smirking lips visible. With his elbow propped on a chair arm, he rested his hand on it while taking steady intakes of smoke through a pipe.

"Don't make me repeat myself Kanryu." He threatened, his tone was almost friendly but Kanryu knew better.

"I-I told her about the old fisherman." He trembled as he stumbled out the words.

"See, now I don't know why you lied to me earlier." Shishio stood up from his seat and approached the man. "What I want to know now, is why you told her something like that. You know I expect confidentiality."

"She tortured it out of me!" His words were beginning to gargle from the blood running down his throat.

"There you go, lying again." Sudenly, Shishio's sharp hand movements embedded the burning pipe into Kanryu's shoulder. The pleading man gave a splitting screech. "Your tongue is notoriously loose around pretty girls."

Kanryu continued to scream.

Shishio glanced toward Kamatari who was off to the side. "Do you think we should cut his tongue out?"

Kamatari huffed, "Could we? He's being ridiculously loud."

"See Kanryu, we only mean to help. After Kamatari does her work, this little flaw of yours will never interfere with your work." Shishio patted the man on his head as if scolding a small boy. He turned away and walked back to his chair as he tossed a simple command. "Take care of that Kamatari. I don't want this happening again."

Kamatari snickered as she approached Kanryu. "I've only done this once before, and the last guy bled out. For your sake, I hope I do better this time."

Pleas and bloodcurdling screams echoed through the building. But Shishio was distracted by the new development. After three years, he might finally have a chance at a matching set for his generation K odd.


	11. No Rest for the Weary

Author Notes: I was on a writing streak. I have no idea where it came from and don't expect it to be normal. I probably kept writing because I kind of wanted these scenes in the last chapter, but it didn't seem to fit. Each chapter has its own mood and feel, and the last one was too heightened for this one. Also, I can't say I'm not a little disappointed by the feedback to my last chapter. Nearly three hundred visitors and 4 reviews. So, personal shout outs to:

Anonymous Review-T: I think you're a new reader and I appreciate your encouragements.

YumeTakato: Thanks for reading!

Lcsaf: I think you've been following this story for a while now, and I'm glad you haven't given up on me.

piccolabimba: I like your username, it used be an old nickname of mine to my Italian neighbors.

Pardon the whiny writer.

**Disclaimer: The **_**Rurouni Kenshin**_** world and all characters depicted are a creation of mangaka, Watsuki Nobuhiro.**

**No Rest for the Weary**

By Hoshi-ni-Onegai

Kogoro paced the room. He was livid. The six pairs of eyes followed his form walking back and forth at the front of the room. This was out of his usual form. Kogoro was a man who was calm and collected with an ever-present smile on his face. This was not the man they were used to.

"I don't know what you expected." Yahiko bit out. The young engineer wasn't exactly happy about the situation either.

Kogoro shot a glare at Yahiko, "You said she was activated."

"She is!" Yahiko shoved off from the wall where he was leaning against and approached Kogoro. "She's programmed to be better than an Oscar winning actress! Of course she'd be able to trick everyone!"

Megumi rushed out of her seat to push back the two menacing humans. "We've been over this already." She shot Kogoro a glare, "Back off."

Kogoro narrowed his eyes at her, and then looked over the rest of the droids. It had been four days since Kaoru and Kenshin went offline. To a certain extent he could take the blame for Kaoru. She was a livewire and he had been mistaken to think she could be controlled. But it needed to be done. There was an inevitable risk of her revealing too much.

His eyes swept over all the droids: Megumi, Tsubame, Sano, Aoshi, and Misao. "I know you all know something. Your loyalties lie with MIRU." His voice rose as did his temper, "Not Kenshin!"

The droids did nothing but stare back. Kogoro was losing control of his agency.

xXx

Kaoru kept still. It was unlikely that anyone would bother looking up, but she was nothing if not cautious now. The lights around the library were shutting off. From her place lying down at the top of a tall bookshelf, she could hear the light shuffle of the mousy librarian as she locked up for the night.

Kaoru allowed a few moments to pass after she was sure the woman was gone. With swift movements she rolled over and landed noiselessly on the ground below. She walked freely through the library, one of the only places where she still felt remotely safe. Since it was a library where old newspapers, magazines, academic journals, and student thesis were archived the university didn't bother setting up security cameras.

She made her way toward the back of the library to an inconspicuous door. Reaching above the door frame she gripped a key and opened the lock. The cramped room was the only place she could truly breathe. Her sanctuary was no bigger than a modest walk-in closet. There was room for a small computer desk and a chair, on the adjacent corner to the door was another door.

Once she was inside she took the duffle slung across her shoulder and dropped it on the floor by her feet. Letting out a sigh she slumped down in the chair in front of the computer. This was the last time she was going to let herself rest. Tomorrow she needed to act.

Her momentary reprieve came to a sudden halt. Kaoru was all too familiar with this sensation. Without allowing a moment more to pass she grabbed the duffle and reached for the other door. There was no way she was going to be caught. Kaoru attempted to push the door open but it would not budge. Her eyes widened and panic set in. She didn't have time to react when the other door that she came in through swung open.

Kenshin rushed into the room like a bat out of hell and slammed closed the door he came through. His amber eyes met hers as he blocked her way. He carefully raised his hands attempting to show he meant no harm. "Don't run."

She braced herself in a defensive stance as she stood off against him. "I'm not going back." Her voice was more frantic than she wanted.

"I'm not here to take you back."

Her eyes widened. "Seek and destroy?"

Kenshin shook his head. "I'm not here on a mission."

Her blue grey eyes were suspicious. After days of running with no real rest, she wasn't sure if she had proper control of her mind. "Why are you here then?"

Kenshin didn't immediately reply because he didn't know what to say. How could he explain his motivations? He wasn't entirely sure of them himself.

Realization hit Kaoru at his silence. "Have you been back to MIRU?" She said shakily as she took in his appearance. Kenshin looked frazzled, something she was not used to. He was still wearing the same clothes she last saw him in. His hair was a mess and he looked like he needed a shower.

Kenshin shook his head, "Not since before your mission. I was looking for you."

"How did you find me? I was careful." There had been no corner she didn't check and she had constantly checked behind her shoulder.

Shoving a hand into his pocket he raked a hand through his hair. "It took a while. I found you here yesterday, but I knew you would run. So I barricaded the other door."

"You've been following me?" Kaoru thought back to her entire day, she didn't sense him anywhere.

"No, I knew you would be back tonight. I had things to do." He took something out of his pocket and fiddled nervously with it.

She mentally questioned his nervousness, "Because when a person goes AWOL they have to drop in on their Aunt Sally."

He let a sarcastic huff at her quip. "I know what you're planning to do. I needed to prepare."

"I still don't know how you knew where I-" Zeroing in on the object in his hand she gasped.

Seeing where her eyes trailed, Kenshin sighed and handed it to her. It was the cell phone looking object that Kenshin had used days ago to record all of her memories. Kaoru grabbed the familiar object from his hand. "This is private! I can't believe- This is a clear invasion of-"

Kenshin approached her and laid both his hands on her shoulder to calm her out of her panic. He couldn't help smiling and laughing, "I didn't look at it."

Kaoru froze more at the shy smile and the sound of his laugh than anything he said. This was the first time that she had seen an unguarded look on his face.

"When I first had to find you for the agency, back when you were still just Kamiya Kaoru, I needed to know the best way to approach you." His smile remained. "You kept ducking into this library but I could never find you amongst the stacks."

"You stalked me."

He laughed, "It was for the agency, I swear."

She nodded dumbly. "I had a buddy that was in the computer science department. After he graduated he said I could use his hole."

"That has a secure online connection." He added taking his hands off her shoulders.

"The computer uses a VPN that hides the ISP by switching the connection every fifteen seconds."

Before she could ask the question at the tip of her tongue, Kenshin answered. "The agency doesn't know. They didn't ask for a complete debriefing after I found you."

"Oh..." She added numbly, "It was a little hectic afterward."

Kenshin chuckled, "That's an understatement."

"I still don't know what you're doing here." She bit her lip and tilted her head. "Why would you leave the agency?"

Kaoru momentarily regretted her question when she saw his smile disappear. Instead he looked confused by the reason -if he knew it all. His amber eyes peered through his mess of red bangs. He seemed to be looking for the answer somewhere within her eyes.

After a long pause he finally answered. "I couldn't leave you out here alone. You don't know what's after you."

"Soujiro." She swallowed down a knot building up in her throat. "And Shishio."

Hearing the names Kenshin nodded, she confirmed exactly what he feared. Kaoru had collected information for Kanryu beyond her mission. But to a certain extent he was relieved. He had been against keeping her in the dark.

She frowned because she could barely make sense of what she was about to say. "Were you worried about me?"

He considered her question, and then answered honestly. "I don't know."

xXx

"We need to move him." Cho leaned back in his chair as he considered the ever-smiling droid. There were times when he wanted to slice the grin right off of him -this was one of those times.

Soujiro continued to fiddle with a firearm. "That's not the point."

"They're going to collect him."

Clipping the barrel back on the gun Soujiro aimed across the room with one eyes closed. "They won't."

Cho frowned, "How do you know that?"

"She's my twin." The droid pulled the trigger and resounding click of the empty barrel reverberated through the room. "I just do."

xXx

Kaoru sat on the floor with the sabotaged barricaded door behind her back. She pulled her legs toward her body and wrapped her arms around while propping her chin on her knees. Her eyes followed the sinewy lines of his muscle that flexed as he tugged his shirt off. The crimson locks of his long hair were freed from where they had been tucked under the back collar. Tangled knots brushed against his back and Kaoru couldn't take seeing the mess any longer.

"Sit down." With swift movements she folded her legs beneath her and gestured to the spot in front of her.

Kenshin shot her an asking look, but warily relented when she pulled out a comb. He braced himself as he settled down in the indicated spot with his back toward her. He still wasn't entirely sure if he could trust her with his back turned. He felt her carefully untying the tie with her fingers. He glanced back to see her holding the impromptu cord that had been serving as a hair tie.

She frowned at the cord and narrowed her eyes at him, "A shoelace? Really?"

"My hair was in the way. I needed it in a pinch." He justified and turned forward.

"You've been using this since the first time I ever met you." She attempted passing her fingers through his hair but it only caught. "Why do you have long hair anyways? I thought droids had to be inconspicuous."

He hesitated to answer and then said, "It's a little embarrassing."

Kaoru processed his answer and laughed. "You can be embarrassed?"

"Apparently." He could feel the expectant pause in the air as she waited for his answer. "I was the original droid. The first of our kind."

She was severely concentrated on the ends of his tangled tresses. "How is that embarrassing?"

"They built me not knowing if there would be others. So they made me ambiguous."

"Ambiguous?" She asked.

He sighed, "I guess androgynous is the better term. The agency wanted a droid that could pass as female if need be." But he quickly added, "All my components are male though. Just my appearance."

"So the height, hair, and face..." She bit her lip trying to hold back the giggle, "Wait. Is that why you're so pretty?"

Kenshin groaned at her phrasing. "Pretty?"

Kaoru let out a laugh. "Don't worry. You're attractive in the male light too."

He raised a brow at her comment. "Droids are made to be attractive. Some missions call for us to catch the prey."

"Like the one I was sent on." She paused in her movements, but continued momentarily after. "Anything for the mission."

"It's the reality of our use." He admitted unwillingly.

Kaoru fell silent as she carefully worked through his mane as it slowly showed some semblance to hair. Her fingers were meticulous as she worked through his silken scarlet strands of hair. Releasing the final knot she swept the comb from scalp to end. He couldn't help the brief hum from his lips as a tingle danced around his follicles, down his spine, to sweep across his shoulders. He rolled his head back at the sensations sweeping through him.

Then, he felt the press of something against his back. Peering out of the corner of his eyes with his head still turned up he saw raven locks cascading into his red ones. "Kaoru?"

"From what I understand, my only purpose is to serve my mission. I don't understand." She whispered with her forehead leaning against his back. Her words were muffled into his hair but he heard her perfectly. "Then why do I feel disgusted and ashamed?"

He turned slowly. "Why?"

Her face remained downturned. "For what I'm designed and created for."

A pained look crossed his face. "I knew there was too much humanity in you."

"What do you-" Turning her face upward she missed the expression on his face. Instead, the blackened charred hole in his left shoulder caught her attention. Her eyes widened and worry set in. "What happened?"

He shook his head and pulled away. Standing up he picked up the t-shirt she had offered him earlier to replace the clothes he had been wearing for the better part of four days. "Where did you get these clothes?"

"I stole them from a laundry mat. But that doesn't matter." Pulling herself up she reached for the collar of the shirt and peeked in to look at the damage. "How did this happen."

"I did it to myself." He tugged the collar of the shirt back into place. Realization donned on her and she unconsciously felt with precarious fingers at the identical burn mark behind her left ear. He answered her unspoken language. "It's your tracking device."

"That's why I haven't been found..." She frowned, "They're in different places?"

"Each droid has it hidden somewhere." He turned away, unbuttoning and unzipping his agency issued black cargo pants. He then tugged on the jeans that Kaoru also pilfered. "We're not supposed to know where."

"Then how did you know?" Maybe modesty wasn't programmed into her, but she automatically turned away.

"I figured where mine was eleven years ago." He crouched down and settled with the exit to his back. "I looked through your plans while I was in the lab."

She copied his movements and sat back down. They had their backs to their respective doors like a pair of guards. "It was after my arm wasn't it? During my exam. You stayed reading something."

"See, perfect memory recall." He smirked. "Usually manuals aren't lying around; they don't like us knowing too much. Even Megumi only has access to an edited down one. Yahiko was probably too distracted by the show you put on to notice."

Picking up the previously tossed off shoelace, she handed it back to him. Pulling his hair out from under his shirt, he took the cord and tied his unruly mane back at the nape of his neck.

"Why did you help me?" She asked tentatively.

Kenshin looked at her with a crooked shy smile. "You're not meant to be caged. You're not like the rest of us."

Kaoru shook her head and let out a strangled laugh. "I think you're making me out to be more than I am."

"You are more." His golden eyes pierced her sapphire ones. "You shouldn't be with the rest of us. You can run."

"I'm not any more than you." The expression on his face was unrelenting. She added, "There's something I need to do."

"I know, your father," he said. "I'm going with you. We get him out, then you both run."

"What about you?" She felt a dizziness coming over her and leaned her head against the door and slid her eyes shut.

Kaoru peeled an eye open when she felt his comforting cool hand against her forehead. He frowned, "You're not running cold. How do you feel?"

"Dizzy... If this is what dizzy feels like." She grinned. "Maybe Yahiko was wrong about not needing sleep."

Worry crossed his face, "You haven't slept?"

"I've been running -just like you want."

He shook his head, "We can stay awake longer than humans, but even we have our limits. You need to sleep." Kenshin rearranged himself and Kaoru's form. Sitting back against the door he helped her settle her head on his lap. She let out a sigh as if attempting to alleviate the exhaustion. "No one will find us here, but I'll keep watch."

"Sano was right. You're not so bad." She droopily opened her eyes when she felt his arm brush against hers. "You're cold. When did you last drink?"

"Before the mission." He admitted.

She gestured toward her duffle. "Look in my bag. I should still have a full bottle."

Kenshin slid the bag over by its strap and dug out a full plastic bottle with a mysteriously cloudy liquid. He let out a chuckle at it. "What's in this thing?"

Kaoru's eyes remained shut but her lips tugged into a smile. "A little of this, a little of that. Whatever I could get my hands on. It wasn't so bad until I added the Bailey's."

Taking the cap off, he took a long swig of the mystery drink. The taste left much to be desired, but he managed it down. "I appreciate it."

"No problem." She said sleepily.

He didn't say anything else after that. He kept vigilant watch as Kaoru could feel the exhaustion from four days of running slamming into her. She couldn't have imagined herself being in this position with Kenshin of all people when she left the agency, but she couldn't deny that she appreciated the allegiance. Kaoru still wasn't sure if she was being tricked, but something about Kenshin told her otherwise. She trusted him.

xXx

"_Don't be foolish." His voice was taunting but reprimanding._

_She glared back at him. Only he could talk to her that way and get away with it. Crouching within the bushes as the guards passed by they kept still. Once the man was out of earshot, she hissed at him. "You'll give us away."_

"_You can't do this. You're too involved." He crept past her._

_Grabbing his arm she gritted her teeth, her temper already on edge. "I can do this."_

"_Probably." He smiled, "But you probably shouldn't."_

_She narrowed her eyes and shoved passed him. "I need to." She stopped in her steps and glanced back at the man that she had known her entire life. If she had been born a man, she was certain that they would be identical. Even their mother had a difficult time telling them apart when she had cut her hair out of spite all those years ago. There was a point in her life when she thought there was no one she would lay down her life for except for him, but everything had changed. It was her fault. Turning away she receded into the darkness in the edges of the castle, her whispered farewell trailed behind her. "Good bye brother."_

_Coming to an edge, she scaled the stone wall. Her years of training to be unseen were paying out well. She crept through the garden undetected. As she heard the telltale clinking of katanas rounding the corner she slipped into a shadowed corner. A group of guards marched by, ready for their post._

_She knew there wasn't much time. This needed to be done, and quickly. Once the guards were out of sight she swept through the familiar castle. She knew these halls so well after spending the past few weeks here. But how different the halls felt at the night, without him escorting her. She blocked out the stirring feelings. There was no room for them now._

_Coming to the sliding paper door where her destiny awaited, she steeled herself. This was what she was supposed to do. This was why she was sent all those weeks ago. This was her purpose._

_Noiselessly slipping into the room, she focused in on the sleeping form in the futon. This was her opportune moment. Strike now and think later._

_She slid silently to the center where he lay. Upon seeing his serene face framed by the blood red locks of unruly hair she had grown to love, she hesitated. Taking in a calming breath she poised her right hand over her katana hilt. Gripping the end, she prepared to swing out._

_But his eyes snapped open and his hand shot out to cover hers. She froze. His amethyst eyes were knowing. He knew this was going to happen. He knew why she was here._

_After a pregnant pause, his voice was calm and steady as he asked. "How much of it was real?"_

_She could feel a tear slip down her cheek as she gripped her sword. "All of it."_

_He smiled tragically, "Then I can forgive you."_

_He let go of her hand. In the next moment, she swung out her sword -and so did he._

"No!" Kaoru shot up to a sitting position. Her eyes wide and unseeing, she could feel someone grasping her shoulders.

"Kaoru. Wake up." Kenshin's voice was firm.

Her mind slowly registered the voice. She felt like she was walking a hazy line between reality and a dream. Turning slightly she eyed Kenshin. He looked just as he did when she went to sleep. She vaguely recalled an image of him in her dream. It was like an image from the past, a past she never knew with castles, samurais, and katanas. But that was just it, it was only a dream.

Shaking her head she turned away from him. "Sorry. It was a dream."

"You have nightmares." When she whipped his head toward her he nodded, "You've had one before."

She raked her fingers through her hair. When she felt the rumpled state of her ponytail she tugged her hair out of its tie -the rubber band having been replaced days ago. She tilted her head forward to hide her face, the curtain of black cocooned her. The memory of the dream was already slipping; she couldn't recall any particular points. "So I guess robots do dream of electric sheep."

"You saw sheep?" He questioned and chuckled a bit at her reference.

"Well, no." She said, "but I guess we do dream."

"Unfortunately, they're usually nightmares." Kenshin stood up and easily changed the subject. "Dawn broke."

"I know." The small room they occupied was windowless, but she was certain of the time. "I have to get ready. I'm moving tonight."

"We have to get ready." He rephrased her statement. Picking up the plastic bottle of miscellaneous liquor he drank another quarter of it and handed it to her. "Have the rest. You'll need it."

She took the bottle and stood up. "We? You're in enough trouble with the agency already. You don't have to do this."

"I do. I can't leave you out there alone." He sifted through his agency clothes to find his black jacket, the only piece that might pass as civilian wear.

"You think I'll be a liability to the agency."

Tugging on the jacket, he shook his head in denial and hesitated over his words before letting them spill out. "I promised myself I would protect you."

Stopping her pursuit of her bag she stared at him. Stepping in front of him she forced him to look at her. She needed the truth. "Why?"

Kenshin thought about his answer. If Sano or anyone else had asked, he could easily answer that it was because she was his replacement. But he couldn't say that, not to her. There used to be truth in that answer, but it was gone now. This situation was all too familiar. He was getting too far in.

When he didn't answer, she didn't push him. She worried that she would push him too far and she would lose the only ally she had left. Kaoru decided to change the topic. She reached forward and traced the shape of his scar with the tips of her index finger. "I didn't know we could scar."

He closed his eyes at the feeling. "If you don't get reskinned."

"Oh." She retracted her hand and shook off the memory of her skin being peeled back. "I don't blame you then."

"I've gotten every inch of my body reskinned at one point or another. We don't want to leave distinguishing marks. We need to blend into the crowd without being memorable." He sat in the chair and tugged on his boots.

"Then why?" She asked.

He shrugged as he worked with the ties of his left boot. "I already have the red hair working against me, what's a scar on my face?"

"I guess." She continued to watch him.

Feeling her eyes on him, Kenshin sighed. It seemed that if he didn't reveal one thing, she wouldn't relent until he revealed another. "It's so I remember how I got it."

When he didn't elaborate further, Kaoru frowned. "And you're not going to tell me are you?"

Kenshin eyes focused in on her immediately. "You don't know?"

"Should I?" She asked.

"It should have been part of the memory package when you were activated." He studied her, as if he could decipher the truth out of her.

"Memory package?" Her voice was incredulous.

"A complete history of the agency."

She let out a laugh and grabbed her bag, and slung it across her shoulders. "Sorry, I only got the skills package."

He stared at her like an enigma he couldn't figure out. Kaoru was proving to be an anomaly, a title he previously had a monopoly on in the agency. One day, she would learn the truth about him and she would never see or speak to him the way she does now. Days ago, he feared the girl he met in her apartment was gone. But despite the activation and despite the situation she was submerged in, the girl was still here.

"I might tell you," Kenshin smiled. "One day."

Seeing the look on his face, she smiled in response. "Maybe after all of this is over."

"You're running, remember?"

"You're not." She frowned. "Can you go back?"

"Probably not." Collecting his discarded clothes he balled them up and gestured toward the door. "But it'll be safer if I'm not with you."

She reached for the door handle, but faced him before opening the door. "Then, one day. I'll see you. Somewhere."

Kenshin nodded a forlorn smile in place. "And I'll tell you. Everything."


	12. Goodbye

Author Notes: As promised, here is the next chapter of this fic before another one-shot (I have far too many of those running around in my head). Although guns do appear in this story and especially in this chapter, I am huge supporter of gun control. I know it's a right, but think the 2nd amendment is antiquated law from the days when we depending on the militia to defend the country. Now, let me step down from my soap box.

On a different note, I had a difficult time writing this chapter. Well, not specifically the chapter, but the last scene. I don't want to give things away, but I really didn't want this moment in the story to come but it had to. Let me know what you think.

**Disclaimer: The **_**Rurouni Kenshin**_** world and all characters depicted are a creation of mangaka, Watsuki Nobuhiro.**

**Goodbye**

By Hoshi-ni-Onegai

Kenshin frowned as he felt Kaoru pull away from his hand. He promptly tugged her back to his side. "Stop that."

She rolled her eyes and adjusted the strap of the bag on her shoulders. "We can't exactly make a quick getaway if you want me plastered to your side."

"Plastered is an overstatement." He leaned down to whisper confidingly. "Couples are less suspicious."

She played along and smiled up at him as she remained close to his side. "Than what? Two people in their twenties look highly inconspicuous on a college campus?"

"We don't want people to look at us too closely." Kenshin returned her smile but his tone was cautioning. "Ever notice that people never directly stare at couples who are affectionate? People don't want to disturb the bubble a couple makes, especially because it feels like they're looking at something private."

In good humor, she adjusted their held hands so that now her fingers laced with his. "Well, let's make people feel more like a voyeur then. You can kiss me if you want."

He laughed shaking his head and led her toward the target building. "Don't go overboard Kaoru. This is still Japan."

She shrugged and went along with him through the doors of the familiar building. After leaving the library from their overnight rest, Kenshin informed her that he had a weapons reserve that not even MIRU knew about. According to the mysterious redhead, the stash was hidden in the student union of her college campus. With the stunt she planned to pull tonight, she was grateful for having access to more than a kitchen knife -which was the most deadly thing she could get a hold of in Tokyo because of all the weapons regulations. Even as he led her through the hallways of the building, Kaoru wondered if she should trust Kenshin.

So far, he hadn't done much to earn her trust but she felt he would keep his word. He didn't seem to be steering her wrong, so she gave him the benefit of the doubt. Well that, and the kitchen knife in her pocket was comforting. If he proved to be untrustworthy, she had faith that she could incapacitate him enough to make an escape. But up to now, he wasn't indicating any betrayal. She momentarily considered the possibility that she was being led to a trap. She shoved the thought away. If he wanted to take her in, he would have taken advantage while she was asleep on his lap.

"This way." He walked toward the stairwell.

Kaoru frowned noticing the direction. "I didn't know there were stairs back here."

He smiled nodding. "That's kind of the reason why I picked this spot."

Going through the fire-resistant metal doors, Kenshin promptly let go of her hand once they cleared the door. She raised a brow at the suddenness of the release of her hand, but didn't question it.

"The other reason is that this stairwell doesn't have cameras." He gestured for her to follow him up toward the roof.

"I was wondering why you picked the building with the most amount of surveillance on campus." She said. "But don't we need to worry about the cameras throughout the building? They feed back to MIRU right?"

He pointed to the knitted cap that hid the majority of his hair. "My hair isn't a beacon right now. And I know all the cameras in here. I know how to avoid being seen by them."

She diligently trailed after him for six flights and through the second set of doors. She looked over her surroundings -a habit she contributed to her programming. They were outside on the roof of the building. It appeared it wasn't exactly accessible to students since there were no safety rails on the edge of the building. Looking over the edge of the building, she glanced back to Kenshin. "Is this where you push me to my untimely death? Because I'm pretty sure I could survive this."

Kenshin narrowed his eyes. "No, that's later."

He made his way over to the large ventilation unit. Kaoru walked up next to him and looked up at the unit that was taller than her extended arm's reach.

"The reserve is up there." He pointed upward.

Nodding she motioned for him to kneel. "Give me a boost up then."

He chuckled and shook his head. "Maybe that skills package isn't complete."

In the next moment he leapt up lightly and gripped the edge of the unit. He propelled himself up and cleared the height easily. As the wisps of his hair disappeared over the edge Kaoru sighed. How many more mechanical surprises would her body bring?

Imitating his moves, she landed carefully next to him. Kaoru frowned at him, "Do I have a gun built into my arm I don't know about?"

"No, but your boob detaches and works as a grenade." Despite his deadpan tone Kaoru wasn't fooled by his mocking statement.

She shot him a reprimanding look, but he ignored it. Instead, he lifted a metal grate panel and reached in. After a quick second he pulled out a semi-automatic pistol with duct tape hanging off one side. Kaoru took the offered weapon and raised brow. "You taped it to the inside?"

"Sorry I didn't have time to get a gun rack installed in here." Kenshin proceeded to pull out three more semi-automatic pistols, a wakizashi, ammunition for the artillery, and five metallic small disks.

Kaoru raised a brow at the short sword, but picked up one of the small disks and turned it carefully in her hand. "Is this a timed mine?"

He nodded and gestured for her to give him her bag.

"What no rocket launcher?" She lifted the strap off her shoulder and unzipped the bag.

"I have a crossbow if that'll help." He reached for the bag, but she quickly slapped it away.

"Don't be so grabby." Sifting through the contents, Kaoru shoved a military style jacket toward him.

Taking the garment, he noticed the various pockets and started filling them with ammunition in easily accessible areas. "Did you steal this from the laundromat too?"

"Nope. I took that from the back of someone's chair when they had their back turned." She pulled out a denim jacket this time and tugged it on. "This I got from a laundromat."

He considered her supplies then asked, "Why do you have men's clothing?"

"I wasn't exactly discriminating when I took clothes. Anything was better than the Takei's coveralls." She shrugged as she took out the two empty plastic bottles and set them aside.

"Coveralls?" Kenshin looked over her outfit. She was wearing a white v-neck t-shirt and skinny cargo pants along with some weatherworn boots.

Kaoru shrugged, "Oh, that. I completely stripped after running away. I couldn't risk a tracking device on something MIRU-issued."

"They don't track you through your clothes." He pointed to her feet while he went about loading the four guns. "And the shoes?"

"These I took from the temple nearby where people are required to take off their shoes before entering." She continued on with her previous explanation. "Oh well, I still wasn't going to trapeze into a rescue mission in the sausage casing Misao called a dress. What would my father think if I showed up in that pink monstrosity? He'd stick with the enemy rather than run off with his harlot of a daughter."

"I don't think he'll care what you dress like." He rolled his eyes. "You're stealing shoes from a worshiper. I can't think that's great karma."

"Says the assassin." Kaoru said mockingly, and pulled out the final item from her bag.

Kenshin ignored her jab and looked over the item, picking it up. "Climbing rope?"

"I don't just steal clothes."

"Why would we need rope?" He asked exasperated.

She frowned. "You always need rope in these kinds of situations. Have you never seen a Bruce Willis movie?"

"And do what with it?" He grabbed the bag and set it away from her grasp.

"Propel or scale a wall." She answered as if were completely obvious.

He shot a look and put away the wakizashi, timed mines, and the rest of the ammunition. Kenshin was about to zip up the bag, until she tossed the rope on top of it.

She smirked, "Don't forget our rope."

He rolled his eyes and shoved it into the bag. Kenshin pointed to the pistols. "Take two and hide them on yourself." After a pause, he added, "And try not to shoot yourself."

xXx

It was a fortunate thing to fly under the radar in this industry. The less you were noticed, the less people questioned. At this moment, Tsubame was never more grateful to be the frequently forgotten droid of MIRU. No one would notice that she wasn't at her usual station in the control room, clicking away at the keys and monitoring the various grids of Tokyo and beyond.

It was still the middle of the day and she was away from her desk. An anomaly in and of itself, but no one would notice -especially when Megumi was also away from her desk. Her usual partner-in-crime sifting through the intelligence that poured into the agency was in the common room with a group of the droids.

She quietly made her way through the sterile halls to come upon the room where many of the droids were gathered. The combat and espionage droids usually refueled after their training sessions at this time. Today, instead of a training session, they had just returned from an all night and early morning scouting of the city to find the two AWOL droids. Yahiko was kept busy trying to figure out what was going on with Kaoru's activation and tracking device, so Megumi was looking the droids over for small repairs to any injuries they might have experienced on the field.

Coming up to the room she made a direct line toward the wet bar where Sano, Misao, Aoshi, and Megumi were all gathered.

Misao grinned seeing the other small droid. "Tsubame! I knew you'd join us for lunch eventually."

"Lunch?" Sano questioned while Megumi tightened a bold in his elbow.

Misao shrugged, "That's what humans do at this time of day."

"I've been calling it happy hour in my head." Sano replied and took swig of his beer.

Ignoring the two droids that could easily begin bickering, Aoshi turned to Tsubame who stood waiting. "Did you need something?"

"Merlot." Tsubame said clearly, making sure everyone heard. All four droids immediately stopped in their action for a split second, but feigned disinterest and continued on.

"It seems we ran out." Aoshi responded evenly.

"And champagne." Tsubame said.

"And?" Misao broke character and questioned loudly, but snapped back smiling. "Sorry. We're also out."

"Well, I usually make sure absinthe and chardonnay are well stocked, but I was considering mixing it with merlot and champagne." Tsubame said as she walked to the bar and grabbed a tall glass. "I mean, a vesper and a sidecar are home staples, but next time I go out I'll have a Guinness, gimlet, and a Cuba libre."

Megumi moved on to look over Misao's shoulder and glanced briefly at Tsubame. "All three?"

Tsubame made quick work of the various bottles and garnishes. "All three. We should go to Coopers or ProntoBeat. Tonight."

She turned away from the bar with her drink in hand. Sano glimpsed at Tsubame and brought his beer back up to his lips. After a moment he spoke with the bottle poised. "Is that a bloody Mary?"

Tsubame silently nodded and walked away to get back to her post in the control room. She came and relayed the message she wanted to. Now, it was up to the others to act.

xXx

Kaoru tapped her foot impatiently as she fiddled with the teaspoon from her coffee. She had downed the sugarless and sans cream black coffee quickly, expecting to be on her way immediately. Instead, Kenshin was taking his time sipping his coffee as if it were an expensive elixir from the gods -not the cheap coffee they ordered from a hole in the wall café they found themselves in.

He watched her movements and chuckled. "You really are human." Kaoru shot him a look. "We tend to not fidget."

Considering his words, she stopped her movements. She adjusted herself in her seat. Her posture became straighter and the look on her face became more placid. Setting the spoon on the saucer, she rested her now free hands on the table.

Seeing the visible change in her, Kenshin frowned. It took him back to the nightclub when he had seen her playing her part. He couldn't deny that Kaoru was most likely Yahiko's best design so far. She easily took on her roles, but he hated her interpretation of a droid. Kaoru became completely devoid of any personality and an icy gaze stared back at him. There was something about her that reminded Kenshin of himself and Aoshi; the two droids who were present during the early years.

Kenshin knocked back the rest of his coffee and slammed down the cup. He reached across the table and grabbed her hand. Quickly standing he tugged her up. She reacted well, but seemed surprised by his actions. The other customers in the café stared at the strange pair as Kenshin dragged her out the door.

Once they breached into the moderately busy street, Kenshin kept walking with Kaoru in tow. After half a block, he turned down a narrow alley. The space between the two buildings was too cramped to accommodate two people walking side-by-side comfortably. He stopped once he was within the shadows of the buildings and no one from the street could see them.

Kenshin slammed her against the building. Kaoru was taken aback by his actions, nearly frightened if she didn't know her own strength and ability to defend herself. His hands slammed on either side of her face as his piercing amber stare pinned her to the wall.

"Don't act how you think you should." His tone was fierce and unwavering. "Be Kaoru."

She searched his gaze carefully, then allowed her body to relax and her perfect posture melted into the brazen stance she was more used to.

Kenshin visibly sighed. "Good." He leaned back to rest against the other wall. "I'm saving a girl and her father. Not a robot and her keeper."

Kaoru stepped off the wall to respond, but quickly ducked back in the dark when a door closer to the opening of the alley opened. A bar worker grumbled and yelled back at the people inside. He continued to haul out multiple trash bags and set them near the mouth of the alley. He gave a final grumbled and let the door swing closed on its own. Before the heavy door could latch shut, Kenshin was there to catch it. After a brief moment to make sure the man was gone he cracked the door far enough to peek inside. Seeing the crates of beer and liquor, he silently crept in.

Kaoru watched his movements but decided not to intervene. It was best to let him act on his own devices instead of barging in and exposing him -whatever it was he was doing.

Soundless seconds later, Kenshin slipped back out of the door with two large glass bottles in his right hand. He took special care to make sure the door didn't slam, and then he walked back to where Kaoru stood. Breezing past her, he went to the end of the alley and gestured to the flipped over trashcans. He took a seat on one of them and showed what he had taken.

The tension of the previous moment disappeared as Kaoru saw the playful smirk on his face. He was acting so unlike himself for when he was in the agency head quarters. Instead, the agent she met hiding in her apartment was there instead. Actually, better yet, he seemed to be friendlier as if he might actually like her and not hate her. Maybe she needed her amend her statement to Sano. Kenshin may not hate her after all.

"This is a step down from the café." She laughed and sat down on the other trashcan.

He handed her one of the unopened bottles. "Shochu: thirty-five percent alcohol and makes even the strongest man hug a porcelain toilet by the end of a long night drinking."

Taking the bottle she then cracked the seal open. "You really know how to spoil a girl."

He did the same with his bottle and took a long drink. Lowering his the bottle, he became serious with his next words. "You'll need to be completely fueled for what we're pulling off tonight." He pointed to her bottle. "Finish the entire bottle. That'll be your last drink for a while. You might not get one for days when you're on the run with your father."

Lowering the drink from her lips she looked at him critically. "What about you? Are you running?"

Kenshin's smile was tragic, but his tone was comforting. "Don't worry about me."

xXx

Aoshi and Misao stood looking over the edge of the three-story building. The sun was setting over the opposite edge, and the nightlife was coming into full swing. After splitting up the team to scout out the entire half mile stretch between Coopers and ProntoBeat, they were to meet at their rendezvous point. Unsurprisingly, Sano was late.

Misao leaned over to hang precariously over the side and watch the foot traffic below. "Who's ever heard of an unpunctual machine?"

"Airplanes?" Aoshi offered.

She teetered back to her upright position and shot him a look. "Airlines aren't unpunctual. Planes are only as good as their pilots."

"You're thinking about computers, planes are more complicated." He replied then turned toward the roof access.

Seconds later, Sano finally made his presence known. Seeing the impatient looking Misao shooting him a glare, Sano raised a brow. "What?"

"You're late." She snapped back. "Per usual."

Sano rolled his eyes. "I was following a lead, but it ended up being a dead end on the merlot and champagne front. But I do have some new information for sidecar when we get back."

"Absinthe has a hideout six buildings down from here. He's not there, but chardonnay is." Aoshi laid out what he had discovered on his excursion.

Misao rolled her eyes. "We're not at HQ, you can stop with the codenames."

Aoshi glanced at her a moment, then repeated himself. "Shishio has a hideout six buildings down from here. He's not there, but Soujiro is."

She shot a glare in response. Aoshi knew very well that she knew all the aliases of the droids, hacker or otherwise. The code they used when they worried about who would be listening in HQ was developed years ago by Kenshin. After the incident with the early generations, the redhead had grown paranoid. He barely trusted the agency anymore, only staying to watch over the newer droids. Despite his mistrust of the humans at MIRU and his experiences from the past, he trusted the remaining droids.

"This is completely unlike Tsubame, why is she hiding this from MIRU?" Misao crossed her arms and shook her head. "It's too risky."

Sano shrugged. "You know Tsubame, she has a soft spot for Kenshin."

Misao sighed, "I guess she can't help it, since she was programmed for him."

"Does that mean you have a soft spot for me?" Sano said grinning.

She rolled her eyes and turned to Aoshi. "So what's our strategy?"

"Sano will stay up front with you and watch the front entrance. I'll go around the back. Stay far enough away that Soujiro won't sense you." Aoshi said. "And don't move in until you see Kenshin and Kaoru, or you get my signal."

xXx

"Can you sense him?" Kenshin whispered in the darkness of the basement.

The glow from the emergency exit sign was the only light source, but both droids could see perfectly. The pipes running parallel throughout the room groaned as water, sewage, and air ran through them. All four sides, ceiling, and the floor were concrete in the small room.

"No." Kaoru answered while ducking below a pipe and behind the pillar next to Kenshin.

"Good. That means he can't sense us." He turned to have the pillar against his back and brought the bag slung across his shoulders forward. He took out the short sword and tied it to the belt loop on the left side of his jeans.

"How did you know about this place?" Kaoru questioned as she reached into the bag and pulled out two extra clips for her and shoved them into her back pockets.

"It's my job to figure these things out." Kenshin fished out two of the timed mines and extended out his hands to her. "Give me the prize balls."

Kaoru didn't question him and did as she was told. After their drinks, Kenshin had gone into an arcade. Kaoru was about to reprimand him that it wasn't time for games, but his determined look shut her up. Walking straight up to a toy crane machine with its prizes in plastic balls, Kenshin dropped in enough coins to play two tries. On each one he won a prize. Without a word of explanation he handed the prizes to her and marched out of the arcade.

Now, Kaoru watched as Kenshin popped open the prize balls and tossed aside its contents. "Hey!" She hissed out while reaching for the discarded prizes. "Don't throw those away."

Kenshin arched a brow at her and continued with his preparations by setting in a timed mine into the balls. "We don't need them."

Kaoru dusted off the small plastic figurines that were attached to a key ring. "Yeah, and I'm sure you only accidently won a Batman and a Robin." She gave him a smug look and handed him one. "For good luck."

Balancing the balls and mines in one hand, he took the tiny figure and frowned. "Why do I get Robin?"

"Because I'm obviously Batman of this duo." She tucked the caped crusader in her front breast pocket of her denim jacket.

"I'm the veteran." He reasoned but pocketed the sidekick anyways. "Now I need you to start counting for thirty seconds."

Rapidly adjusting the buttons on the mine, he closed the balls back up and turned away from the pillar. Aiming at the wall farthest from the exit, he carefully and purposefully rolled both balls on the ground. Kenshin hid and crouched down behind the pillar. Seeing that Kaoru was still standing, he grabbed her sleeve and dragged her down.

When he shot her a look, she smiled. "We still have twenty-three seconds. Calm down."

Kenshin narrowed his eyes. "This isn't exactly a controlled blast Kaoru."

"Seventeen seconds. And I know." She reached forward and squeezed his knee in reassurance. "Don't worry."

Hearing her words he sighed. "It's my job to worry."

"Nine seconds." She counted down. "You have a lot of duties with your job then."

Kenshin slipped his hand to the back of her head to duck her down further and shield her with his body. "Getting you and your dad out safe is my highest priority right now."

Kaoru nodded. "Thanks Kenshin. One second."

xXx

Flipping through a magazine without paying attention to its contents, Sano watched the door across the street from the corner of his eye. Misao, who stood next to him in front of the magazine stand in front of the bookstore, bit back a laugh.

Hearing the fellow droid, Sano didn't take his eyes off the door but questioned her. "What?"

Setting down the magazine she had been looking through, she pretended to peruse the other selections. "I didn't know you had an interest in maternity."

He spared a split second glance at the reading material in hand and saw that he was currently stopped at an article about the benefits of breastfeeding. Eyes back on the door across the street, he closed the magazine and set it back on the racks. He blindly reached for another magazine and smacked her lightly with it before flipping it open. "Be serious."

Misao rolled her eyes. "This might be your first rodeo being discreet and watching multiple targets at once, but this is every day for espionage." She pointed to his new choice. "Also, that's a parenting magazine."

He frowned, but didn't dare taking his eyes away from the door. "I could be a father."

She barked out a laugh. "You and what technological miracle is impregnating Megumi?"

Sano was about to give a retort back when they both froze at the sound of a blast. The people on the street and in the store glanced around hearing the dull thud, but seemed to ignore it once they couldn't identify find the source. But to the two droids, they knew the sound of an explosion even if it was coming from beneath the ground.

Magazines forgotten on the ground, both droids sprinted across the street toward the door.

"There's the signal." Sano mumbled out.

xXx

Kenshin led the way through the blasted rubble into the dimly lit passageways of the basement of the adjacent building. Kaoru followed and drew out one of her guns from the waist band of her pants. She readied the gun pointed down and away from either of them.

Once within the confines of the other side of the wall, the pounding of rapid footsteps came running toward them. Hearing the shouts of people heading toward the source of the blast, Kaoru aimed her gun to the corner where the owners of the voices would like emerge.

Just when the footsteps sounded around the corner, Kenshin gestured for her to hold fire. She furrowed her brows but didn't lower her gun.

In the next split second three henchman with submachine guns turned the corner and came into view. Before Kaoru had time to react, Kenshin had his wakizashi drawn and a body dropped to the ground motionless. With the hilt of his sword, he knocked back the jaw of one man and made a downward swipe on the other man.

The rapid sounds of two more pair of feet came their way. Kenshin made quick work of the man nursing his jaw by slicing through his chest. The first of the new two people came into the hall, but instead of a gun he came swinging with a crowbar. Kenshin narrowly ducked to avoid iron as it slammed into the wall next to them.

The next person came in and automatically went to help his crowbar buddy by aiming at Kenshin with his gun. Just as he was about the squeeze the trigger, the searing pain of Kaoru's bullet embedding into his thigh collapsed him to the ground.

Three swings of the crowbar, and a precise stroke of the wakizashi by Kenshin and the other man was down. They didn't hear anymore commotion coming their way, only noises from the other end of the basement.

Stepping over the forms of the dead bodies Kenshin walked up to Kaoru's victim. He grabbed the groaning man by the collar and lifted him up a short height. Kaoru also carefully made her way toward them but froze when Kenshin deftly slid the blade of his sword against the man's throat. He unceremoniously let go of the man, who made a dull thud against the concrete floor. Kenshin swiped his sword in the air to flick off the blood that splattered against the wall.

Shaking off her shock she purposefully marched up to him. Before she could say whatever she wanted to he spoke up. "Never leave them alive."

Kaoru narrowed her eyes. "I don't know if I can be cavalier with a life."

He took in the look in her midnight blue eyes and her words. Nodding he said, "Then I'll clean up what you start."

Kenshin turned away with his sword on the ready as he precariously skirted around the corner. This long passageway was clear and he gestured for Kaoru to follow. They carefully crept down the hall, hearing loud commotion above. As she trailed closely behind Kenshin, she felt something was off. After the initial wave of five guards, there was no one else trying to attack them. From the sound of it, there were a large group upstairs and a small cluster around the far-off corner from where they were. But that wasn't what was off about the situation.

Lowering the gun to her side she scooted closer up to Kenshin and whispered out her concerns. "Soujiro's not here Kenshin." He immediately stopped in his steps and turned toward her. "I remember what his presence felt like from my apartment, and he's not here."

"But you said he's been holed up in here for three days." Kenshin stated.

Kaoru spent the better part of the four days on the run trying to figure out where her father was being held. Through a combination of internet hacking and good old fashioned legwork, she figured out where Soujiro was located. Unfortunately, she had been unable to confirm his presence visually and didn't want to risk getting close enough to sense him in the building. But something in her gut told her that her evil twin was somewhere in the building, which meant her father was as well.

"He's not here." Kaoru glanced up toward the ceiling, "But Sano, Misao, and Aoshi are."

Kenshin didn't appear surprised hearing the names of his comrades. "That's probably Tsubame's doing."

Kaoru didn't question what Kenshin meant by what he said. There were times for these kinds of questions, and this was not the time for any of them.

"He might have slipped out in the commotion." Kenshin reasoned and ventured further down the hall.

Kaoru followed, but stopped at a door when she felt a familiar presence. "He's there."

Kenshin glanced back at her and toward the door in question. "Soujiro?"

She shook her head and reached for the door handle. "No, my dad." She rattled the doorknob that proved to be locked with a deadbolt. Learning her previous lesson with metal doors, she raised her gun and pointed it at the lock.

Kenshin grabbed her hand before she could pull the trigger. "This could be a trap."

The look in her eyes said it all. There really was too much humanity within her. "I don't care."

Hearing her words and the subsequent noise of shouts heading their way, he nodded. Kenshin tugged her gun away, and instead sliced the doorknob off with his sword as if it were butter.

"The bullet would have ricocheted." Kenshin turned toward the approaching storming footsteps and sheathed his sword. He took both pistols out and he stood on the ready. Without turning, he threw back, "Get to your father. I'll keep them off."

Kaoru spared his back form a brief glance, and then slammed through the metal door and into the room.

xXx

"They're downstairs!" Sano yelled at the other two droids, but he knew they could tell where Kenshin and Kaoru were as well. He spurred them forward as they fought off the henchmen.

Some of the men were able to escape, but many were on the ground unmoving. The remaining four continued shooting at them. Sano remained crouched behind an overturned table and gestured to Misao. Seeing his signal, she understood perfectly and sprang away from the recliner she had been hiding behind. She shot a man between the eyes and rolled over next to Sano behind the table.

She smirked. "Three to go."

They heard another shot ring out a bullet meat the crack of bone and splat of flesh. "Thanks Aoshi." Sano tossed back to other side of the room. "Two down."

xXx

Kaoru breached the room and she heard the door slam shut behind her -no doubt Kenshin's doing to protect her.

The cement room was dimly lit by a single light bulb hanging from the center of the ceiling, and beneath it was the man Kaoru cared most about in this world. Koshijiro's form was slumped forward on a chair, his hands bound behind him and his legs lashed to the chair legs

"Dad!" She called out. Her voice sounded helpless, like a lost child's. Running to him, she kneeled down to look up into his face. His eyes were closed and his breathing was barely detectible.

Taking out a small pocket knife from the cargo pocket of her pants, she cut his legs loose and then his arms. Kaoru carefully lifted him and cradled his frail form on the floor. She tapped delicately on his withered face. "Dad?"

It had been a months since Kaoru's last visit to Oshima, however she remembered her father healthy and full of life. She even had called him spunky on one occasion. But the man within her arms was a far cry from the one she had hugged tightly and said goodbye to before boarding the ferry to return back to Tokyo. She never regretted the decision to come to this city more than now. Maybe if she had stayed on the island, she would not have been sucked into this life and her father would not have been dragged into it either. MIRU was turning into a black hole for her life, nothing escaped from its crushing pull.

"Dad?" She tried again. Looking over the severely pronounced wrinkles on his face and his sullen eyes, she wondered if her father had always been such a small man. Wasn't it that he always seemed tall and undefeatable?

After long seconds of coaxing, his eyes blinked open slowly. They seemed hazed over, but focused on her face. "Soujiro." His voice was weak, but it was an accusation and not a question.

Kaoru shook her head. "No dad, it's me, Kaoru."

He blinked his eyes a few times for good measure, and then furrowed his brows. "I'm seeing things again."

"If you were really seeing things, you'd be seeing your wife, Nastumi. Not your petulant daughter, Kaoru." She reasoned with him.

Hearing her point he let out a fragile chuckle. "I know I'm not seeing things if you're making fun of me. My hallucinations would at least be sweet and not sarcastic."

She smiled, comforted that he was strong enough to quip back at her. "I'm going to get you out of here and then we're going to run."

"I don't know Kaoru, I'm not strong enough for a run." He answered, his breath was heaving.

"We'll walk, stroll, crawl -whatever. I just need to get you safe." She glanced toward the door hearing rapid fire of gunshots. When she turned back, she saw that her father's eyes were closed. "Dad?"

He didn't respond, and so she gently shook his shoulder. He roused but entered into a light coughing fit. Kaoru tried to ignore the blood dribbling from the corner of his mouth, but she knew better.

"Did they beat you?" Her teeth were on edge as she asked the question. There would be hell to pay for the current condition of her father.

"No need. I'm old." He wheezed out. "No food or drink for days will do enough."

"How long have you been here?" She asked.

"I don't know. I can't tell down here." He took in a struggled breath. "I don't want to talk about that. Not now."

"You're right. We need to get out of here." Kaoru carefully slid her arms under her father and tried lifting him to standing position, but he let out a harsh groan. After a slight pause, she attempted again but he let out another painful noise. Crouching back down with her fragile father in her arms she looked over him worriedly. "Dad?"

"I'm afraid I'm not going with you." He sighed with relief when he was back resting in her arms.

Kaoru rapidly shook her head. "This is a rescue. Of course you're coming with me. Then we're leaving Tokyo."

"But you love the city." He gave a small smile.

"I love you. I'm keeping you safe." She spared a glance at the door where gunshots continued on behind it. "We'll leave the province, the country, the continent if we need to, but I'm keeping you safe."

"I wanted to see you grow up. Start a life with a job after you graduate, maybe meet someone and get married." He seemed to ignore the sense of debilitating urgency pressing in on Kaoru and rambled. "Oh, I really wanted to walk you down the aisle."

"You can do all that, we just need to get out of here." Kaoru pleaded.

"Grandkids. I would have loved to have seen grandkids." He wheezed out a struggled breath.

"Don't talk like that." She felt her eyes watering.

His eyes slid shut as he whispered out. "You were never great with goodbyes."

"This isn't a goodbye." She tried denying, but her arms subconsciously wrapped around him closer as if he would disappear.

"I've lived a long life Kaoru, I know when it's about to end." His tone seamed teasing and scolding at the same time.

A tear escaped from the corner of her eye. "It's not ending. I'm pretty smart dad, I know these things."

"You're the smartest person I know, but I think you're wrong this time." His eyes slowly opened to gaze up at her. "I don't know what's going on Kaoru, but I don't think everything is as it seems."

"God, you don't know the half of it. There's so much happening and I don't know how to control anything around me anymore." She swallowed down a knot in her throat. "I'm not what you think I am. I'm not human. I'm a monster."

Hearing her words he smiled, "You're my daughter. What else matters?"

The amount of affection that she felt from the man that took care of her for three years was overwhelming. How could she drag such a noble person into this mess? And how was it possible that he didn't hate her?

"But watch out for Soujiro, he doesn't mean well. There's something inherently evil about him." He continued, his voice falling softer. "He says he's your brother, but he's no family."

She lifted a hand to trace along his cheek. "You're the only family I have."

"But you won't be alone." He reached his hand to weakly grasp the wrist of her hand stroking his face. He locked eyes with her and smiled. "I was an old man living all alone in a house before you came into my life Kaoru. You gave me a reason to look forward to everyday. Watching you learn and become this strong woman. I loved every day you let me be your father."

He let go of her wrist and reached up to the corner of her eye and wiped away a stray tear.

She took in a steadying breath. "Thank you for letting me be your daughter."

The gunshots in the hallway ceased suddenly and silence fell around them, But Koshijiro's attention was solely focused on Kaoru. He seemed to be trying to memorize her face and when he finally searched her deep blue eyes, he sighed. His eyes slid shut and in a final breath he whispered out: "I love you, Koaru. Stay safe."


	13. Return Service Requested

Author Notes: Whoa this chapter cranked out fast. I know I left the last chapter on a low note, so I wanted to progress this quickly. I didn't want to leave you guys hanging for too long with Kaoru's father's death.

Also, I wanted to ask the readers a question. Do you guys mind if I reply to signed in reviews? I started on ff net before they had the review response option, so I don't know if others authors do that or not. Let me know! Also let me know what you think of the chapter!

**Disclaimer: The **_**Rurouni Kenshin**_** world and all characters depicted are a creation of mangaka, Watsuki Nobuhiro.**

**Return Service Requested**

By Hoshi-ni-Onegai

What had she done?

Kaoru sat calmly on her knees with the body lying peacefully next to her. Her hand lightly held the hand that had belonged to her father only moments before. The skin was still warm, and if she didn't know any better she would have thought him to be asleep. But Kaoru knew better.

Her father's final breath was shallow. His heart rhythm fell off one beat at a time. She couldn't be sure how many minutes she attempted reviving him, but pulled away when there was no hope left. He was gone.

It was odd, just only minutes ago there was a man in that body. He had quipped at her, and expressed the unconditional love a parent had for a child. Then, in the next moment he was gone. Kaoru had no idea where he went. Was there a place where these things go? Her father hadn't been a religious man. She wasn't sure if he believed in souls, heaven, or reincarnation. So, for all she knew, it was like a light bulb burning out. There lied a husk of a man that shone out its use.

The heat from the body was seeping into the concrete floor. As the long minutes stretched on, the hand cooled within hers and she couldn't continue pretending that her father was still with her.

What had she done? The questioned repeated itself in her mind.

Kaoru imagined a life where her father didn't stumble upon her washed up on the beach. Maybe it would have been better if she had been a proper delivery. From what she had heard around MIRU, her delivery was intercepted and she somehow ended up at the bottom of the sea. If she had arrived to her destination her father would have been spared. He would have lived a long life without being kidnapped by her crazed twin brother. She would be serving obliviously for MIRU. Wouldn't that be better?

She would be a murderer. Kaoru squeezed her father's hand in reassurance, as if he could feel it. This man had prevented her from killing people. Prevented her from becoming a tool for a shrouded government agency and picking people off according to some arbitrary list the agency devised. She couldn't change the past. So instead, she would be eternally grateful for the life this man took her away from.

Despite trying to ignore the world outside of the concrete room, Kaoru was pulled away from her mourning. It still remained silent outside the door, but there was movement. There appeared to be no human souls left in the place, but Sano had come down to the basement. However the greatest distraction was Kenshin. His signal was getting weaker.

The door slammed open revealing Sano with a gun in hand. His brows furrowed seeing Kaoru sitting on the floor next to a body. "Kaoru?"

But her attention wasn't on Sano, but the form on the floor in the hallway. Among the pile of lifeless bodies, was the familiar silhouette of her companion. He was the only person left who she really trusted now. Seeing the pool of blood and strewn red hair, Kaoru automatically stood up and her hand slipped away from her father's. "Kenshin!"

But she never made it to the door. Sano raised his gun and frowned. "Sorry Missy."

The shot rang out and she fell into a crumpled pile on to the ground.

xXx

"I don't get it. We missed the optimal opportunity to catch his sister." Kamatari questioned while lounging on the couch in the posh penthouse apartment.

The ice clinked in the whiskey filled glass as Shishio raised it to his lips. He spared the questioning human a glance, then tilted his head toward Soujiro to answer.

The ever-smiling droid nodded from his place. "That was the plan before, but now that Kaoru's been activated, she can't be hacked."

Kamatari frowned. "We're destroying her then?"

Shishio lowered the glass and smirked. "Now that would be a complete waste of a perfectly good droid."

xXx

Kaoru woke up to her own screams. Her left eye snapped open and the blinding light flooded around her.

"Shit. I was hoping to get this done before she woke up." She heard a young male voice grumble above her. The searing pain radiated from her right eye socket. Kaoru recognized the sensation. It was a pain she was unlikely to forget.

"I'll shoot Sano for doing this." Kaoru recognized the voice as Megumi's.

The young man, who Kaoru know could tell was Yahiko, snapped at her. "And create more work for me?"

Kaoru continued screaming. She wasn't sure if it was from the repairs being made on her eye, or from finding out she was back in MIRU's compound.

She could barely think over the pain shooting from her eye to her core. But she was certain. She was in MIRU.

The last thing she remembered was Sano aiming the gun at her and the bullet approaching at a speed she couldn't dodge. She had been distracted. Kenshin's still form had been lying in the hallway in a pool of his own blood. What had happened to him?

Kaoru suddenly felt a severe tightening from her right eye. She let a final shrill yell. And just like the time with her hand, the pain ceased immediately. Vision returned in her right eye. Her gaze focused on Yahiko and Megumi as they remained poised above her.

"How's it feel?" Yahiko asked casually.

Kaoru carefully blinked her eyes, then answered quietly. "Fine."

Her eyes searched the room to find any other inhabitants, but the three of them were the only ones there -not even Tsubame was lingering around in the lab. She couldn't believe she was back here again. Wasn't she supposed to be on the run?

Yahiko frowned as Megumi looped her arms underneath Kaoru and lifted her up. The young engineer remained silent as Kaoru was taken immediately away from the lab.

Kaoru remained limp in Megumi's arms as she was carried like a bride out of the lab. Last time she had a procedure done, she was able to function for a little while afterward before Kenshin was forced to carry her. Why was she feeling so week?

But Kaoru instead asked a question that worried her more. "Kenshin?" His name was the question.

Megumi considered her words, and then carefully answered. "Alive."

Carrying the smaller droid, Megumi made short work of the halls and came upon the rows of dorm doors. At the end of the hall would be Kenshin's room where she had stayed during her time at MIRU. Instead, Megumi turned to the first door in the hall: the one marked with a K. It had the same door access panel as Kenshin's door.

Megumi balanced Kaoru in her arms and then placed her hand on the panel, causing the door to slide open. Kaoru furrowed her brows; this was the first time she would be entering this room. Kaoru was anxious to know why she was being brought to this room and not Kenshin's.

Megumi stepped into room K and as Kaoru's eyes swept through the all-too-familiar contents, her breath hitched. She could barely believe her eyes. This was her apartment.

The room was bigger than room A and could accommodate an additional queen size bed aside from the one already there. The floor plan was different from her apartment, but the content was hers.

Megumi deposited her onto the bed. The familiarity of the mattress was bizarre to Kaoru. How could she be in place so foreign and familiar at the same time?

But there were more important things to worry about now. "My dad?"

Pulling away from her, Megumi thought her answer over. "He's been collected by the agency. We'll give him a proper burial."

Kaoru let out a sigh of relief. The thought that he was still lying on the cold concrete floor in the dank basement underground was too terrifying. Her words sounded struggled but she had no idea why. "Can he be buried on Oshima? Next to his wife?"

Megumi pursed her lips and wordlessly walked over to the small kitchen and came back with an open bottle of beer. She set in on the nightstand next to Kaoru. "I'll see what I can do." With that, Megumi walked out of the room and Kaoru was left alone.

This was a repeat of her last repair with her hand. The weight of her body was oppressing as she crept up the bed to rest her back on the headboard. When she finally gripped the beer bottle and drank it all down in a single breath, she wondered if she would have made it before going completely empty. Kaoru recalled the entire bottle of liquor she downed before breaking into the facility. There was no possible way that she could have spent her entire fuel source, but the beer did little to replenish her.

With heavy steps Kaoru made her way toward the fridge. Slumping against the door, she pried it open and saw only beer. Doing the same to the freezer, she didn't see any hard liquor. Of the cabinets she could reach, there was nothing but coffee.

Surrendering on finding a better fuel source, she reached for another beer and finished off three more before getting up off the floor. She leaned against the counter in the cramped kitchen -if she could even call it that. It was similar to the kitchen in room A, with a two-burner stove, an undersized sink, fridge, and barely any counter space. There was no possible way to prepare any sort of meal here and there really was no need for it. She glanced at the cardboard box labeled 'kitchen' and figured that must be the contents of her kitchen that proved useless here.

Kaoru thought back to all those busy days when she had struggled to squeeze in a meal during the day to placate her worrywart of a father. There was no one left to worry about her anymore. There was also no reason for anyone to worry about her. She was a machine that only needed maintenance when she broke down.

Even with four full bottles of beer within her, Kaoru felt... unspectacular. Now she understood why everyone kept on offering high proof alcohol, the low grade of beer made her feel average. The dumpy feeling of her body evoked the days before the agency, when she was just Kaoru Kamiya: the oblivious college student puttering around not realizing the depths of the city. It was strange how much she knew now, but there were still things unanswered. According to what Kenshin mentioned, she should have been activated with a memory package. Kaoru couldn't answer why her human memories weren't washed away, but she was grateful.

Kaoru scanned the room while stepping through it. The arrangement was different from her small apartment; it appeared that whoever set it up attempted to take advantage of the space. The cheap furniture she bought at the big box store when she first arrived in Tokyo looked sparse in the large room.

Everything was so familiar. The photographs on the dresser were of her friends and neighbors from the island. The curtains were the ones she picked out at the weekend market a few months ago. The plush rug centered in the room was a gift from her neighbor Tsubaki. There were too many memories crammed into this foreign room.

Kaoru walked over to the door out of the room and set her hand on the panel, but it blinked red instead of green. She frowned. She hadn't really expected it to open, but the confirmation was disconcerting. There was no way she was going to attempt breaking down this door again and the agency knew it.

Kaoru was being caged.

Seeing the dirt and grime on her hands and the dust on her clothes, she made the deliberate decision to shower. There was nothing she could do and she had the suspicion that she wouldn't be let out anytime soon.

Out of habit, she threw the clothes she stripped off into the hamper by the closet. Kaoru briefly wondered if everything was brought over from her apartment.

Walking over to the door leading to what she assumed was the bathroom, she finally let a small smile grace her lips when she found the light. There, sitting on the bathroom counter was a glass fishbowl. She crouched down to see its lazily swimming goldfish inhabitant. "Hey Rex."

She once heard somewhere that a goldfish had the memory span of a few seconds. Later, she found out they actually have memory spanning three months. Either way, Rex was paying her little attention to her. Seeing its food sitting on the counter next to the bowl, Kaoru picked it up and shook some into the water. The fish diligently plucked away at the floating flakes.

Kaoru observed the small creature as it finished off all of its food. Between her and Rex, there was no one else. She wondered if a fish counted as family. Her father had bought him for her on his first visit to the city. He had said she spent too much time alone in the apartment and needed some company. Her father called Rex her little brother. Little had she know that she already had a brother.

Getting up and turning away she walked into the shower and turned on the water. The initial cold of the spray didn't bother as she always thought it did -another proof of her nonhuman nature. The temperature of the water quickly rose to scalding. Steam billowed and gradually filled the bathroom.

Even as the water shot down, Kaoru stood still and made no move to scrub the grime off. The heat of the water would have blistered her skin if she had been human, but it did little more than roll off her. She could acknowledge that it was hot, but nothing more than that. Kaoru still didn't understand how she could feel hollow and full at the same time.

She was repeatedly reminded that she wasn't human at every turn. If her entire life was just the work of programming and a chip in her head, why did she feel like this? The world she knew was gone. Her father was father was gone. Kaoru Kamiya was gone.

Why did it hurt so much?

She couldn't tell the hot tears and the shower water apart. Her crying was muted by the continued stream of water. Kaoru crumpled on the tile floor and leaned against the wall as the sobs racked through her body.

xXx

Misao glared at Sano who ignored her. He had other things to worry about.

Aoshi sat calmly next to Misao in the agency's common room. Tsubame also sat among the gathered droids, a position she wasn't necessarily used to. They were now waiting for Megumi to join them. It was hours after their retrieval of Kenshin and Kaoru. It was late night, and they knew this was the calm before the storm.

Sitting forward on the couch, Misao finally spoke up. "What do you plan to do now Sano?"

Sano frowned at Misao's scathing tone, but remained silent. He knew Megumi would join them soon, and she would have the accurate prognosis of the situation and the AWOL couple.

"I never considered myself a prisoner here, but I didn't realize we had a warden either!" Misao continued to snap at Sano.

The targeted droid attempted remaining quiet, but his fuse was notoriously short. Sano pinned her with a sneer and growled out, "I've known Kenshin all my life. I've known her for less than a week. He takes priority."

"You could have let her run! We could have only brought back Kenshin." Misao reasoned. "You don't know what they'll do to her."

Sano shook his head. "I'll vouch for her. We need her."

"They'll never let her out." Misao said.

"Kenshin needs her." Megumi answered for Sano as she entered into the common room. She situated herself next to Sano and sighed. "They're both alive."

Misao bit out her accusation, "You're using her to save him? You're no better than the agency."

The agency. The monster behind the machine. By the time they had returned back to HQ, the human occupants save for Yahiko were gone for the day. The boy engineer didn't question anything as he went to work on Kenshin, then on Kaoru. While he first started working on Kaoru, Sano was able to talk Yahiko into not contacting Kogoro or Saitou -a feat that wasn't exactly difficult considering Yahiko's sympathizing ways.

So the secret remained between the five droids, and the minutes were ticking away. Kenshin was locked up in his room and Kaoru in hers. When morning came their fates would be sealed by the two humans.

"They could decommission her." Misao reasoned, "They've done it before."

While the room remained silent, Tsubame spoke softly into void. "Then they would lose two droids."

Hearing the words of the intelligence droid, Misao whipped her head toward Megumi and Sano. "What does she mean?"

Sano avoided the questioning droid and turned toward Megumi. Seeing the grief in her partner's eyes, Megumi relented and answered. "Kenshin's core. It barely lasted through the repair. He won't last much longer."

xXx

Hours. Days. Weeks. It would have been all the same to her. Time passed slowly, but her mind kept perfect time.

Ten hours, forty-three minutes, and twenty-six seconds. Twenty-seven. Twenty-eight.

Kaoru curled tighter into a fetal position. Tucked between her sheets and under the familiar weight of her comforter, she felt safe. Her entire body was covered while she was perfectly centered on bed. Although she lacked a childhood, she was sure she would have warded off even the scariest of monsters by hiding within her bed. Instead, she had tried to chase away the nightmares that plagued her. And now, Kaoru endeavored to convince herself that this was a long nightmare. All she wanted to do was wake up. Wake up and be back on the island and find her father alive.

She had no idea what was going to happen to her now. Kaoru couldn't fathom how locking a droid in a room could be useful. She wasn't naïve enough to think that she would be given another chance outside the agency. The next time she left MIRU's HQ, it would be in parts to the scrap yard.

From what she could feel out in her proximity, all droids aside from Kenshin were gathered on the other end of the compound. But the more pressing issue were the two humans that arrived fifteen minutes earlier. Kaoru couldn't explain why they hadn't arrived until morning. If anything, this was only prolonging her death sentence.

She pulled the covers closer around herself and ducked further down. Ten hours, fifty-eight minutes, and thirty-two seconds.

xXx

"They've been retrieved." Aoshi stated.

Kogoro's eyes widened hearing the news. He looked around the room where he, Saitou, and all the droids were gathered -sans Kenshin and Kaoru. Upon coming into the HQ for the day, Kogoro went straight to the central control room per usual. He hadn't expected everyone to be gathered there, especially with the remaining droids spending the past five nights searching for the two rogues.

"Their status?" Kogoro finally questioned.

"Alive." Megumi answered, knowing that as the mechanical droid her say on the matter was necessarily. "Kaoru was repaired and we drained her fuel tank. We've limited her fuel supply in her room. She's basically harmless."

Saitou narrowed his eyes at her. "To a droid."

Megumi nodded in response, and continued. "Kenshin was... patched up. He's in his room."

Kogoro arched a brow at the she skirted around the topic of Kenshin. "His fuel supply?"

"It won't matter." Megumi glanced at the other droids, then returned her attention back to the heads of MIRU. "His core was damaged."

Realization hit Kogoro and he fell back in his chair. He had expected this day to come years ago, but Kenshin's second core was lasting beyond its expected duration. It seemed almost poignant that this was happening after the arrival of Kaoru. Kenshin was getting his wish: death.

xXx

Twenty-one hours, fourteen minutes, and fifty-nine seconds.

Kaoru made her way to her closet. After her shower, she had only grabbed a towel to wrap around herself. Now, with the option of her own clothes and not the borrowed garbs she had been wearing for the past week, Kaoru faced off her wardrobe. Opening her closet door she was jarred by the organization. Much like everything else in the room, it was arranged exactly the same as her apartment. The furniture may have been spread out to utilize the larger space, but everything else was a complete replication of how her room was. Her clothes were hung and folded exactly as she had it -as if directly transplanted.

Deftly, she grabbed undergarments, a black camisole and put them on. Kaoru barely contemplated her choices as she grabbed her favorite pair of jeans. Tugging them on she noticed a package tucked in the back of her closet. Slumping down onto the floor, she reached for the package. Within her hands, she took in a steadying breath.

Oh, how could she have forgotten? Kaoru opened the folded back brown paper bag and slid out its contents. A navy scarf tumbled out into her hand.

Blue had been her father's favorite color. Weeks ago, he had mentioned during one of their daily phone conversations that his throat was constantly sore from the cold ocean breeze. The small island was consistently windier and a few degrees colder than the mainland. Kaoru bought him the scarf for his birthday, which was only a week away. With the scarf in hand, she stood back up and walked back to the bed. Neatly folding it, she opened the drawer of her nightstand and set inside.

She didn't want anyone asking about it. Kaoru wasn't sure if she could answer without getting choked up. Sitting on the edge of her bed, she waited. Kaoru had visitors.

The door slid opened revealing Misao and Aoshi. Misao entered first with Aoshi close behind, the door slid shut immediately behind them.

"How are you feeling Kaoru?" Misao asked in a forced chipper voice.

"Fine." Kaoru shifted her eyes between the two. "I guess they're so afraid of me, they're sending you in pairs."

"Actually," Aoshi spoke up. "That was my decision. Misao can handle herself, but you're not exactly predictable."

Misao shrugged, "Don't worry. I know you're not dangerous." Seeing Kaoru's raised brows at her comment, Misao added. "Well not dangerous to us."

"I'm sure I'll lose in a fight two against one." Kaoru admitted.

Misao shook her head. "I meant that you wouldn't try to hurt us."

Kaoru considered the two droids for a long moment. Before her escape, she was told that she would work mainly with these two. Although Misao seemed welcoming and Aoshi didn't exclude her, Kaoru had the suspicion that she wouldn't exactly assimilate perfectly into the unit.

"Are you two..." Kaoru's question remained hanging. She wasn't exactly sure what terminology to use. Would they be insulted with a human term?

Misao grinned at her implication and looped her arm through Aoshi's. "He's my better half." Aoshi's expression didn't change, but didn't refute the small droid's claim.

"Sano and Megumi too?" Kaoru asked, and Misao nodded in response. She thought over her words then chose them carefully. "I didn't realize droids could love."

Letting go of Aoshi, Misao made her way to Kaoru and sat next to her on the bed. The smaller droid grasped Kaoru's hand without hesitation. "Did you love your father?"

Hearing the question, Kaoru frowned but nodded.

Misao smiled. "Then how farfetched is it that we could fall in love?"

"So my feelings aren't just an imitation? I'm not just pretending to care about my father?" This was a fear that Kaoru had harbored since first hearing about her mechanical state.

Misao frowned. "No more than humans. We're not that far off from them. Despite what the redhead might say." She squeezed Kaoru's hand reassuringly. "Don't let Kenshin's bark scare you. His bite is worse."

"I think you have that backwards." Kaoru pointed out.

"You've seen him on the field. I didn't get it backwards." Misao smirked and nudged her, "So what do you think of our Kenshin?"

Kaoru pursed her lips and ignored the question. Instead, she asked her own. "So what are you two here for?"

Misao kept hold of Kaoru's hand. "The agency decided what to do with you."

"The agency?"

"Kogoro decided." Misao admitted. "You won't be decommissioned."

"I don't know what that means." Kaoru confessed.

Misao shot a confused look at Aoshi, then turned back to Kaoru. "It means you would have been shut off, killed, destroyed, whatever you want to call it. This information should have been part of your memory package."

Kaoru sighed, "Apparently it's not exactly complete."

Kaoru's explanation didn't clarify much for the other droids, but Misao continued. "You'll be confined to your room, and maybe you'll get to roam the compound if you behave."

"I don't understand." Confusion was apparent on Kaoru's face. "How would that be effective use of company property?"

Misao rolled her eyes at the phrasing. "I'm guessing that's Kenshin's wording you're using."

Kaoru was taken aback, realizing that she had lifted that phrase directly from Kenshin. Setting that odd notion aside, she asked. "Why don't they just reprogram me to be a good and obedient droid?"

Before Misao could wisecrack, Aoshi answered instead. "You can't be reprogrammed after you've been activated -to prevent hacking."

Kaoru stood up and pulled away from Misao's hand. She walked over to the wall where her curtains hanging. They were drawn and no natural light streamed through them. She took the center ends of the curtains and flung them open. There was no window, just the wall. The curtains from her apartment were only hung to look like they covered a window. She was imprisoned.

"So I'm being kept like a pet?" Her voice was disbelieving and barely above a whisper.

Misao seemed ready to respond, but Aoshi shook his head. She kept quiet and followed him to the door.

"And Kenshin? Is he getting decommissioned?" Kaoru asked before the two droids could leave her alone in the room again. "He did nothing wrong. I made him help me."

Kaoru turned toward them, and saw the hopeful expression on Misao's face that she couldn't quite understand. The shorter droid beamed back at Kaoru, "You'll see him soon."

xXx

A/N: Hey you. Yeah you. You just read this chapter right? Fill out this tiny form down there and let me know what you think! :D


	14. Companion

Author Notes: Moving right along with this story. Some of you have some question about the story that you think I left gaping holes, I'm sorry to say that so far only one reviewer has brought up a question that 1) hasn't already been answered (read more closely? I don't know what to say about these) or 2) will eventually be answered. So I will answer the question that I've overlooked. Drum roll please!

Q: In what time period does this story take place anyways?

A: Present day. Sorry, the answer isn't spectacular like "in a parallel universe in a not so distant future." I always like books and movies where there is this underground world the rest of us don't know about. I may or may not love conspiracy theories.

Anyways, on with the chapter. Oh, and forewarning, I mean no offence by the word cripple.

**Disclaimer: The **_**Rurouni Kenshin**_** world and all characters depicted are a creation of mangaka, Watsuki Nobuhiro.**

**Companion**

By Hoshi-ni-Onegai

"Reprogram her." Kogoro demanded sternly.

Yahiko continued on with his work, disregarding his superior. They were currently alone in the laboratory. Kogoro had finally been able to find the engineer alone. After Sano had made the case for Kaoru, decommissioning was ruled out for the current moment; however, Kogoro was a logical man that knew that Kaoru was still a liability.

Kenshin remained uninformed of the situation and trapped in his room. Kaoru, on the other hand had been authorized to learn of her state of imprisonment. The purpose was to see her reaction, so she was told after the humans were out of harm's way and gone for the day. According to Aoshi and Misao's report, she took it well. Kogoro suspected too well.

"Reprogram her." He said again.

Looking up from his work, Yahiko shot the persistent man a look. "I told you multiple times. I can't."

Kogoro pressed on. "Or you won't."

The young engineer frowned. "I don't appreciate the tone."

"Then reprogram her." Kogoro reasoned.

"I'm a genius." Yahiko started.

"That's why I'm sure you can reprogram her." Kogoro interrupted.

"I'm a genius." Yahiko started up again. "And I programmed droids to be better than humans at everything. I made sure that their programming was ironclad so they can't get hacked. If I left a loophole, a droid would find it. With Shishio and Soujiro out there, you don't want that possibility lying around."

The older man grew silent at the realization. In any other time he probably would have praised the young engineer for being so vigilant, but now was not one of them. "So there is nothing that can be done?"

"Well, the last ditch effort would have been the bracelet she came with. It's a provision that the previous engineer designed, but I've corrected her software when I repaired her eye." Yahiko explained. "The bracelet wasn't recovered with her father's body. Soujiro might have it. We can't risk it."

Kogoro let out a tired sigh. "We're stuck with her then."

Yahiko nodded. "You have to realize, her programming is fine. Her memory bank might be corrupted because she's been filling it with her own memories, but the droids' personalities are more... organic. You know this."

"I know." Kogoro said. "That's why we pick the perfect candidates."

Yahiko furrowed his brows. "Pick?"

Kogoro waved off the comment. "Figure of speech."

xXx

Kenshin could do little more than sit on his couch. His room was stripped of any form of communication or technology. The agency couldn't risk it. He was now viewed as unpredictable -after fourteen years of working like a Swiss watch. Instead, he was probably classified as broken.

But even a broken clock is right twice a day.

After being patched up by Yahiko and Megumi, Kenshin was dropped off in his room with no further information. To top it off, this was the first time he had been locked in his room. His mind raced with the possible fates of Kaoru and her father. He wondered how far they reached by now. Maybe they were out of the country with new names and new lives. A lot can happen in the span of a day. But the fear that nipped at the back of his mind was that they were both dead. The images of their corpses flashed through his mind. They could have somehow been caught in the crossfire.

The door suddenly opened silently. Kenshin turned to see Sano and Aoshi come into the room. He furrowed his brows at the new occupants. If anyone were to be allowed in, Megumi would have been the most logical choice for repairs.

"Armed guards?" Kenshin questioned.

The two came up to him on the couch and griped either side of his arm. They easily brought him to his unsteady feet. He only kept his balance because Sano and Aoshi held him up.

Sano frowned at his friend's weakened state. "I didn't realize how bad you were."

"Can't complain." Kenshin groaned but smiled. "Finally getting my wish."

"Well, they're giving you a final mission before you're dust in the wind." Sano said with a biting edge, he wasn't exactly a fan of Kenshin's desire for death.

Kenshin glanced up at Aoshi. "So are you guys here to help the cripple or to escort me to another assassination?"

Aoshi shot him a look. "You think I'm going to drag you around Tokyo for you aim a gun at someone?"

Kenshin shrugged. "That's all I've been good for up to now."

"It's a different kind of mission." Sano said as he motioned for Aoshi to help bring Kenshin to the door. "And Kogoro ordered that two of us to move you. He doesn't exactly trust you right now."

"Can't blame him." Kenshin admitted as he was taken out of his room. "Where are we going?"

"Just down the hall." Aoshi replied.

The distance from his end of the corridor to the other was longer than Kenshin had ever previously expected. With each step that brought him closer to room K was another knot building in his gut. When his two guards stopped in front of the offending room, Kenshin's reality came crashing in.

Aoshi opened the door with his hand on the control panel. Kenshin eyes remained locked on the doorway as it opened. Standing there was the girl that he risked everything to save. To save her from a world of guns, blood, and murder. But here she was, Kaoru, back to a life that was never black or white, but drenched in a shade of muddy grey.

Kaoru's expression was visibly relieved and holding back tears as he was shepherded in to the room. Sano and Aoshi barely had time to let go of Kenshin's arms before Kaoru had sprinted to him and wrapped her arms around him. "Kenshin. Kenshin. Kenshin."

Kenshin's arms automatically went around her in a protective embrace. This was not the stoic droid he feared her to have become after the activation. This was the scared girl he took form the apartment -which he found himself in again. He had lifted her from a normal life and let her plummet into this one. If he had the option of going back in time and destroying Soujiro before he went after her and never introduce her to this world, he would do it in a heartbeat.

Sano gave a pained smile. "She's your new mission."

Kenshin's arms slackened as he turned toward his long-time friend. His tone was disbelieving, "You want me to kill her?"

Sano shot Aoshi a look and rolled his eyes. "Well, you can be proud to say you had the exact same idea as Saitou."

Kenshin glared at Sano while his knees gave out. Kaoru quickly supported him and maneuvered him to the bed -as there was no other seating in her room. She looked him over and saw that he was broken and battered; this was not the strong droid who she saw as the only support outside of this compound.

She left him on the bed and stormed over to the two towering droids. "What did you do to him?"

Sano raised a brow at her reaction, but evenly responded. "He was shot trying to save you and your dad. The only thing we did was patching him up and preventing him from dying." After a second, he added, "Against the patient's wishes."

Before Sano could elaborate or Kaoru could question on the comment, Kenshin spoke. "What's the mission then?"

"To convert and train her." Aoshi said.

Kaoru frowned. "Wouldn't the converting be easier if I didn't know about it?"

"It's not exactly a subtle agenda." Sano admitted casually.

"And if I refuse?" Kaoru attempted, even though she knew that there was little sway or say she had left.

"What else are you going to do with your time?" Aoshi reasoned.

"And if I refuse?" Kenshin questioned sternly.

"You won't." Sano replied uncharacteristically serious. "If she doesn't convert, she'll stay with her new designation."

Kenshin's eyes widened as he shot up from the bed a bit too suddenly. He heavily fell to the ground. Kaoru quickly came to his side to help him up, but he gently pushed her away. Kenshin shoved himself away from the floor and remained crouching with Kaoru watching worriedly next to him.

Aoshi turned away and left through the door. Sano stepped back to follow but before leaving said, "She's not combat, espionage, or intelligence anymore. Kaoru is a companion now."

Sano left immediately after his last word. Kenshin continued to glare at the door and tried hefting himself up. When his arms buckled, Kaoru ignored his protests and helped him up and back toward the bed to sit.

Kaoru furrowed her brows as she sat next to him. "Do you trust him?"

She didn't need to say who for Kenshin to know. He could sense that she asked the question precariously, evidently noting the friendship between him and Sano. Kenshin answered her honestly. "I do."

The room was silent as she thought his reply over. A good three minutes passed before she asked another question. "Should I?"

"If you mean, does Sano have your best interest at heart?" Kenshin turned his head toward her. "No, he doesn't."

Kaoru scoffed. "Probably just watching out for himself."

"No." Kenshin shook his head. "He's watching out for me."

She wasn't surprised by his response. There were other moments since she first met the lumbering droid where she could tell Sano valued Kenshin as a friend and combat partner. She stood and went to the fridge and grabbed two beers. She handed one to Kenshin and plopped down on the floor by his feet.

He turned the bottle in his hands. "They're keeping you weak." Seeing her inquisitive look he gestured to the bottle. "There's high proof beer for the droids. They only gave you regular beer right? It has too much water. The energy it takes to process the excess liquid is just below the alcohol content. They're making sure you stay manageable."

Twisting the cap off her bottle, she handed it to him and took his. "I figured it was something like that." She twisted the second cap off and took a swig. "Why did they bring you here?"

"Whatever choice I make, I have to be with you." Kenshin said. "Convert and train, or leave you as a companion."

Kaoru frowned. "What, it's your decision? I don't have any say?"

"You wouldn't be able to make an informed decision." Kenshin explicated.

"What? Be an agency hitman or keep an injured droid company? I think I'll pick the latter." She turned slightly to get a better look at him. "Anyways, I think you're too weak right now to train me. I don't understand why you're so frail though. Isn't it supposed to be immediate recovery? They said you were looked at before me, this still can't be a residual effect."

"I was badly damaged. They want to replace some parts." He replied vaguely and quickly changed the topic. "Why are you here Kaoru? I told you to run."

A pained expression crossed her eyes. She attempted tampering it, but was not all the way successful. "What for?" Seeing the confused look in his eyes, Kaoru added. "My father died."

His eyes widened a fraction before returning to their normal state. "I'm sorry."

"So you see, I only have you now." Kaoru said while resting her head against his knee. "I'll be your companion."

Kenshin was grateful that she couldn't see his face. Even though he could usually be confident that he could control his features to have the ultimate poker face -he would have failed this time. Kenshin awkwardly stroked her hair in what he tried for a sign of comfort. He felt lost during these moments of humanity, but was drawn to them at the same time. This girl sitting at his feet was as human as they came. Kenshin would be damned if he let MIRU turn her into a companion model.

xXx

"So we've known where the compound is for all these years and haven't done anything?" Chou mumbled to Kamatari as he hauled the large packages.

Kamatari rolled his eyes. "Of course not."

"But they said it was the same compound." Chou reasoned.

Soujiro smiled and glanced back at the slow-paced humans. "It's been moved."

Chou shot the droid a look. The droid irked him to the bone. There was something wrong about him. Shishio was a droid covered head to toe in bandages, but Soujiro was the creepy one. He seemed unnatural -beyond his mechanical qualities.

"What do you mean moved? You can't move an entire compound." Chou said incredulously.

"Can't you?" Soujiro grinned and turned forward, hauling a load twice the size of either human's. "They've been in the compound in the old location. It's not there anymore. Like it vanished from Akihabara."

"Akihabara?" Kamatari chuckled.

"Electronic center of Tokyo." Soujiro said. "Makes sense, right?"

xXx

"Eight." Kaoru said trying to keep her voice even while studying Kenshin's expression carefully.

The redhead remained quiet from his location on the bed. Kaoru looked over his entire form, but this man didn't have a tell. Not a single worried wrinkle marred his face. His eyes were clear and alert. His lips were relaxed and neutral. He watched her just as closely as she watched him.

Finally, after a long pause, Kenshin answered evenly. "Go fish."

Kaoru swore and plucked off a card from the center deck. "I can't believe we're calmly sitting here playing Go Fish."

"You're the one who wanted to play." He pointed out.

She chewed her bottom lip as she scanned her growing hand of cards. "Because I'm usually good at this game. I've never lost."

"That's because you can read people well." He said. "Any threes?"

Hearing the number, Kaoru grumbled as she pulled out two cards and handed them over.

Kenshin took the cards and threw down his new set of four. He continued, "The problem is, you don't know how to keep from being read." He glanced up at her face and saw that it fell into a vacant expression. "Unless you turn it on."

"Sorry." She kept her expressions controlled.

"It's a good thing to be able to turn it on and off. You don't need to be on when you're not out in the field." He responded. "Any Jacks?"

"Why don't you turn it off?" She asked while handing over an additional card.

He shrugged. "I don't know any other way to be. I've been at this for a while."

"What's a while?" Seeing that he didn't make a match, Kaoru took her turn. "Six?"

"Fourteen years." He gestured to the deck. "Go fish."

She let out a mild screech and tossed her cards onto the middle of the bed where they had been playing. Flopping down on the side of the bed she occupied she let out a noticeable huff. "So when is this play date over?"

"Forfeiting?" Kenshin smirked. "Want to get rid of me that quickly huh?"

She shot him a sideways glance. "You know what I mean. Where are your handlers?"

"They're not coming."

Turning her head toward him, she raised a brow. "What?"

"You're a companion now." He said while lying down on the other side of the bed, the forgotten game of cards strewn between them. "And I'm sure they're trying for a match."

She sat up and glanced down at him. "You mean we're roommates?" Seeing his nod, she tilted her head in confusion. "Wouldn't it be more dangerous with two droids in the room? Better to split us up right? We can scheme... and stuff."

"You on low grade fuel and me injured?" He said. "Doubt it."

"Why this... my room?" She questioned.

"It's bigger than mine." He replied. "It was originally a room for two. I'm sure they figured it would be more comfortable."

"Like they care about our comfort." She jeered. "Also, I only have a bed. That's it. At least you have a couch and some seating by your kitchen." Kaoru thought what she said over and frowned. "Wait, are we sharing a bed?"

Kenshin glanced toward her and shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time."

xXx

_The rope ripped through another fraction of her skin. She kept back the whimper as the growing wound stung. Hours had passed since she was tossed into the shed with her brother. Her wrists tied up to a wooden beam above her that was too high for her to sit and too low for her to stand without hitting her head. Her knees wore sore, but anything to alleviate the raw flesh of her wrists._

_Through the slits of the small shed she could tell that the day ended and night crept over. The temperature began plummeting over the hours. Her brother's teeth clattered next to her._

_Suddenly a scream pierced through the darkness. Successive crashes came from the house. Lights from a fire flickered and grew. Her eyes widened as she realized it would only be a matter of time before the flames jumped to the shed._

"_That scream came from the house." Her brother said in a rushed whisper as he desperately tugged at the ropes._

_She quickly shushed him as she heard movement outside the shed. Through the slats in the wall, she could see the movement of shadows. With her legs she tried pushing away from the door and putting herself between it and her brother._

_It had been months since the spree of bandits breaking into households started. This house had considered themselves safe as they were not the wealthiest of families in the region, but it seemed the bandits ran out of the rich to steal from._

_The door was ripped off its hinges. The bright light from the flames caused her eyes to dilate as she scrambled as far as the ropes would let her. She could feel her brother trembling in fear behind her. He was her twin, but she was still older by a quarter of an hour. He was her charge to protect._

_The man who leered into the shed was close to an animal as a man could be. He snarled and sneered as he found the two occupants. Seeing her, a lascivious grin split his greasy face. Thick meaty hands reached forward while she scrambled backwards. Her legs kicking toward him and he grabbed hold of an ankle, dragging her forward. She let out a cry as the ropes cut further into her skin._

"_Get away from her." Her brother yelled from behind her._

_The man ignored him; her brother was far enough away that he couldn't interfere. Her eyes widened and her panic rose realizing the brutal reality of the situation. From the moment this man saw her young adolescent body, he had one thing on his mind. The prospective of being raped in front of her little brother terrified her._

_She struggled. She tried kneeing and bucking the man off, but he out-weighed her by more than double her bodyweight. Her sleeve ripped from the struggle. He gripped the sash keeping her kimono closed. Her next scream died in her throat when the bandit let out a groan and collapsed on top of her._

_Looking past the bandit's shoulder, she saw the familiar silhouette of a man who kept hold of the handle end of a katana. He easily ripped the blade out of the bandit's gut and shoved him off of her._

_Her savior made quick work of the ties around her wrist and her brother's. "Are you two okay?" He asked while motioning them out of the shed._

_Her brother helped her to her feet and shouldered part of her weight as they followed the man toward the shadows of the back wall bordering the house. The fire raged on in the main building and the shadows they hid within danced across the wall._

_The twins following behind the man limped as the sensation returned back into their legs. She leaned forward and worriedly glanced back to the shed where the bandit's feet poked out. There was still commotion buzzing around the house as the other bandit's pillaged._

"_How did you find us?" She asked._

_The man glanced back at her. "I joined the bandits four houses ago. I prayed I would eventually find you two."_

"_Father, we didn't run away." Her brother explained._

_The older man shook his head. "I know." He smiled at his son. "Well, I may have had doubts about you. But I knew my little girl wouldn't do that and would have talked some sense into you."_

_The daughter in question turned her head toward the main house. "I think they're coming this way. We need to leave now."_

_Her father nodded and preceded the length of the wall. They diligently followed him and only lost sight of him when he slipped around the corner, but that was all that was needed to change their lives forever. His guttural yell prompted them to speed around the corner, in time to see their father fall to his knees with a blade protruding from the same place the bandit had met his fate in the shed._

"_Father!" She barely had time to look up at the killer before she ran to her father's side, but the beady eyes of the murderer burned into her memory._

"Father! Father!" Sitting right up from her bed, her breaths came out in rapid pants.

"Are you okay Kaoru?" Kenshin's voice swept over her like a cool breeze, pulling her out of her nightmare.

Kaoru pulled her knees forward and leaned her arms against them. Her fingers fisted in her hair as she tried to steady her breath. "Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"You were having a nightmare." He also sat up, but kept his distance to prevent her flinching from his presence.

"It happens a lot. Almost nightly." She sighed and turned toward him. "I dreamt about my dad... I think. The more I try to recall, the less I remember."

"Yeah, they're a little like human dreams." Kenshin said. Seeing that she was having difficulty calming down he tried distracting her. "I didn't realize you called him 'father' though."

Hearing his statement, Kaoru frowned and gazed at him confused. Some of the residual images of the dream soaked in and just as quickly leeched out. However, what Kenshin stated felt foreign and familiar.

She furrowed brows then whispered out. "I don't."

xXx


	15. Cabin Fever

Author Notes: Ready to feel claustrophobic? Because Kenshin and Kaoru will be trapped in that room for a little longer. I'm getting stir crazy just writing about it.

Also, please remember I'm not typically a Sci-Fi writer and I did not study anything remotely close to engineering. I researched some of the mechanical components of the droids, but I make a lot of it up. Let's all just pretend everything I describe makes perfect sense.

Thank you for all the reviews! I started responding to some of them, and I love having a back and forth with some of my readers. You guys are awesome. See you next time!

**Disclaimer: The **_**Rurouni Kenshin**_** world and all characters depicted are a creation of mangaka, Watsuki Nobuhiro.**

**Cabin Fever**

By Hoshi-ni-Onegai

Kaoru stood patiently in the dead center of her room. Her eyes closed she tapped her foot impatiently with her arms crossed in front of her. She continued to count off the full minute that her trainer had previously indicated. Once she reached sixty seconds, Kaoru turned slightly to the left and pointed with her eyes remained shut.

"I really don't see the point of this game." She said opening her eyes. At the other end of her gaze stood Kenshin. "I get the previous exercise where I hid and you had to find me in three seconds or less, but you have a bit of handicap. I can sense you, remember?"

"Which means you rely on it too much." He limped away from his place by the bookcase and slumped onto the bed. "I never had that built in sensor, so I've had to depend on other senses."

"I still don't get the point."

"I took something from the room." Kenshin smirked and leaned back to be propped up by a pillow. "Now it's your job to figure out what."

Surprise flitted across Kaoru's face and she immediately raked her eyes over the contents. "How am I supposed to know? I didn't set up the room. Mostly everything was put in its place, but not all of it."

He shrugged in response. "You need to register all of your surroundings."

"So you tricked me." She frowned as she continued to look around the room. "You had me have a false sense of security so that I didn't place too close attention to you."

"I knew finding me would be pointless." He admitted. "Your enemies won't tell you what they're up to. It's your job to protect yourself."

Kaoru smiled and shot him a look. "My job? I thought that was yours."

"I'm not always going to be around." Kenshin answered cryptically. "Now, find what I took."

She frowned at his words, but didn't push him on it. If she didn't let the man have a bit of mystery, what was left of him? Then again, she wondered if Kenshin really needed anymore mystery than he already had. Because in reality, how much did she know about him?

Kaoru contemplated the question as she searched through her things. She was certain she could name all the facts she knew about him on one hand. One, his name was Kenshin. Two, he was the first droid of his kind. Three, he has a scar he doesn't want to forget. Four, he's head of combat. Five, his sense of humor isn't that bad. While sifting through the contents of her bookcase, she subconsciously glanced at her left hand. The last factoid she knew of the redhead seemed worthy of adding a second hand.

She turned slightly to look at Kenshin who continued lounge on the bed, paying her what appeared to be little attention. Kaoru couldn't help smiling and turned back to her task. Six, he was the only one she trusted now.

"What are you smiling at?" Kenshin asked while staring up at the ceiling. "Did you figure out what I took?"

"How did you know I was smiling?" She questioned while she kept searching.

"I'm telling you, my senses."

She rolled her eyes. "What, you're going to tell me the air shifted when my lips moved?"

He let out of chuckle. "Not really. I saw you from the corner of my eye. It was my amazing eyeball senses."

"So master, if this is training, when do we get to the conversion?" She moved on to her wardrobe. "Are you going to tape my eyes open and force me to watch propaganda films about how awesome MIRU is?"

"This isn't the Clockwork Orange." He mocked. "Either way, conversion is impossible."

"Impossible?" She asked. "I'm surprised a government agency doesn't have a brainwashing technique."

"This also isn't the Bourne Supremacy." He pointed out. "It's not from a lack of trying, there's been past candidates MIRU's tried to convert, but no success. Once a droid goes rogue, they can't win them back."

"I think that makes us sound more human than machine. People are headstrong about their allegiances." Kaoru walked over to the bed and sat down next to him. "Some can be bought, but humans are surprisingly loyal."

"How do you figure?" He sat up.

"How else do you explain people being lifetime fans for a sports team that never wins?" She smirked at him. "And you took my hair ribbon."

Hearing her answer, Kenshin nodded and fished out the said ribbon from his pocket. He handed it back to her. "I didn't realize non-cheerleaders wore hair ribbons." After a pause, he smirked at her. "Were you a cheerleader?"

"No." She smacked his arm. "My dad gave it to me. I think he wished he raised me from childhood..." She chewed on her lip in contemplation, then added. "At least now I know that's not even possible."

"He still raised you." Kenshin said. "Despite what Kogoro might tell you."

"I thought Saitou was the cynic." She questioned.

"Saitou isn't the one you should worry about. His motives and opinions are clear. Kogoro, on the other hand, never reveals anything. He's the one to watch out for."

The words of warning from Kenshin caused her to stare at him quizzically. "Should you be talking like that?"

"Why? Because big brother is listening?" He scoffed. "The agency isn't hearing anything that's a big secret. I'm sure they've been listening in on us."

Kaoru sighed, "I thought so. No one said we were monitored, but I figured after my stunt they'd be watching us like hawks."

"We were always monitored." He lied back down.

Seeing him lounging back, she asked. "So is training over for today?"

"Over? We're just getting started." He grinned glancing up at her. "I took something else when you went searching for your ribbon. Try to figure out what."

"Goddamn it Kenshin!" She shot him a glare. "What are you, some kind of kleptomaniac?"

xXx

Saitou breathed out a long wisp of smoke and smirked. "I guess that answers your question if he trusts you."

Kogoro glared at the other man. "He doesn't need to trust me. He just needs to believe in the agency's mission."

"Don't tout the party line at me." Saitou enjoyed the other man's misfortune. "And it seems like Kenshin isn't going to convert Kaoru."

Kogoro and Saitou occupied the back offices of the agency, a location that remained inaccessible for all droids. The droids were the tools, and the humans were the puppet masters. There was never a time when these secluded corners of MIRU were needed more. Saitou had his own agendas from the higher ups, but Kogoro worries rooted deep within his robotic team. Kenshin had been more than just his best agent, but the only one left from when everything started. Aoshi was built within the first generations, but he was from the tail end.

Kogoro ripped his mind from the old memories. This was not the moment to remember the dark days of the agency. Instead, he listened in on the two imprisoned droids. Currently, they were listening to them live and monitored all conversations carefully. The feat proved to be more difficult than usual because no droids were brought in for the task.

"They're not going to discuss a diabolical plan in there. If not the Even, at least Kenshin is smarter than that." Saitou snubbed out his cigarette and let out the last puff of smoke. "You need to stop looking inward and worry about Shishio. He's building an army, and now he has the newest model droid on his team."

"Tsubame and Megumi are monitoring that. Also, Soujiro isn't the newest model. His sister has that honor." Kogoro replied and pointed to the screen where they watched and listened to Kaoru and Kenshin. "She has a fourth generation heart core."

xXx

Kaoru towel dried her hair as she left the bathroom. Opting for fresh pair of jeans and camisole, she tossed her dirty clothes into the hamper. She continued with her hair as she approached the odd figure lying on her rug in the center of the room.

Coming to stand by his head, Kaoru raised a brow. "You're kind of in the way."

Kenshin blinked open his eyes and gazed up at her from the floor. While she had gone into the shower, he had sat down on the floor. Somewhere between Kaoru lathering and rinsing, he ended up in the currently position of being strewn on the floor on her surprisingly comfortable rug.

"What, for all the cartwheels you're going to do around the room?" He shut his eyes again and stayed in his position.

Sighing, she plopped down on the floor with the bed to her back. Kaoru sat down cross-legged, close enough to Kenshin that one of her knees grazed his side. "You okay there Kenshin? You haven't gone crazy on me have you?"

"Five days trapped in here with you? I can't imagine why that would drive me crazy." He replied smirking.

Kaoru lightly kicked him. "I'm not that bad."

"You're right. I'm sure I wouldn't be able to handle Misao's energy in this small space." He admitted with his eyes still closed. "But five days is a long time."

"I once stayed in the university lab for a week." She said. "I slept under my desk."

"On a bet?"

"I had a paper due." She explained.

Kenshin turned his head to look at her and raised a brow. "It took you a week to write a paper? You're fifty percent combat, the other fifty is intelligence. You're not an idiot like me."

"Idiot seems a little harsh." She laughed. "And it was less of paper and more like a book."

"I saw that in your file." He nodded. "How does someone who still doesn't have their degree get published?"

"Being a walking super computer helps I guess. I just thought it was natural talent and not some microprocessor in my head though." She mulled the thought over for moment but was distracted by Kenshin's visible struggled breaths. "When are they going to do those repairs on you?"

"Don't worry about that." He said offhandedly.

"You've been acting like a badly injured human for days now." She narrowed her eyes at him. "You're not talking me into giving you a sponge bath again there Kenshin."

"Why not? It was fun." He jested.

"It was fun for you. It was awkward for me since you kept calling me Nurse Kamiya." She said. "So what's damaged? A spigot or something?"

"A spigot? What am I faucet?" He chuckled. "I think you should worry more about a change of clothes for me."

"It's not like we have body odor." She reasoned. "I just change out of habit more than anything."

"And to spite me because you didn't have a change of clothes when you first came to MIRU." He pointed out as he shut his eyes again.

Kaoru grinned. "Or that."

They stayed in a comfortable silence, an occurrence they were getting used to with their days of imprisonment. There was really only so much training an injured and new droid could do within the confines of a studio apartment. After the hide and seek he forced her to participate in, there was a dexterity and reaction training. Thinking back on it, Kaoru wondered how legitimate the exercise where he rapidly shot multiple marbles at her was.

Kaoru liberally looked over Kenshin's form -a chance she didn't usually have. Although he was undoubtedly slim, she now knew that he was stronger than he looked. Was, being the operative word.

Aside from his now constant shortness of breath, there were no other indications of his injury. No scars, no bruises, and no missing limbs. But still he remained weak. She worried about him. Despite his warnings not to, she was concerned. From what she saw of the other droids, they were never anything short of inhumanly strong and spry. Currently, Kenshin was neither.

In their five days together, trapped without any contact from outside, she was oddly comfortable with him. Especially considering she barely knew the man. She hadn't pried further into the origins of his scar, but there was a history there. She suspected that it defined Kenshin more than he let on.

While trapped, she was comforted by him all four nights while she awoke screaming or crying. The dreams were like smoke that slipped through her fingers as she attempted grasping them. She always had a tendency for nightmares, but never like this. She wondered if it was MIRU or Kenshin's presence that triggered them. However she didn't want to bring it up with him, especially with everything he was already shouldering on her account.

Kaoru crawled over to her nightstand and pulled open the drawer. Her fingers met the soft material of the navy scarf she originally bought for her father. Taking it carefully into her hands, she moved over toward Kenshin and loomed over him.

Sensing the shadow cast over his face, he opened his eyes. He raised a brow. "Is this how I die?"

Kaoru rolled her eyes. "Not likely. If there is a death coming for you Kenshin, I promise you it's not me."

She gestured to the scarf in hand. His expression was curious and he carefully propped himself on his elbows. Kaoru unraveled the material and wrapped it around his neck gently. She tucked the ends within the loops and sat back when her deed was done.

Sitting up fully, he stroked the silken knit cashmere. He smiled. "But I don't get cold."

Kaoru shrugged. "Can't hurt though."

"It's also blue."

She waved her hands at him. "Calm down, I know you have a color allergy, but it's only navy."

He seemed to consider the scarf a bit longer then finally asked. "Why do you have a brand new men's scarf? A gift for a boyfriend?"

"No, I just liked the color." She evaded answering completely. "And I haven't had a boyfriend since I left the island."

"You had a boyfriend on the island?" He visibly seemed interested in this newly revealed fact.

"Okay, so boyfriend might be putting it generously." She divulged. "There was a boy that was really sweet on me back on the island."

"How sweet?" He pressed on.

"That's really none of your business Kenshin." She smirked at him. "Anyways, we kind of sort of dated for the last year I was there."

He frowned and thought about the idea of Kaoru with an island local. He imagined this faceless man taking her out on a date. The prospect seemed incredibly implausible taking into account that she was a military-grade killing machine. He wasn't sure which idea was more ludicrous: a movie or dinner date.

"Did you break up because you came to Tokyo?" He asked.

"I guess so. It was never that serious." She tilted her head to the side looking at him. "You're mighty curious about my love life."

After a pause, he answered warily. "It's just weird. No other droid has ever been romantically involved with a human outside of a mission."

"But you have been with a human." She clarified.

Kenshin nodded. "If the mission calls for it. There's a reason why we're anatomically correct."

"Really? That's why?" She grumbled. "I don't like the idea that I'm an android with lady parts for the pure reason of seducing a mark."

He chortled. "Actually, you're not an android."

Her eyes visibly widened, but she scoffed a second later. "You can't tell me I'm human now. I won't believe you."

"Android is the term for male droids." He clarified. "Female droids are gynoids."

Kaoru scrunched her nose. "Eww. That sounds like gynecologist."

"I'm sure the root of the word is the same."

"Is the droid the politically correct gender neutral term?" She wondered aloud. "Must be why there's an even number."

"What do you mean?"

"Four androids and four gynoids. A nice even number on both sides." She pointed out.

"You're either leaving out Soujiro or Shishio." He corrected.

Hearing his amendment, she frowned. It was true, she had disregarded the illusive droid. "I've never met or seen Shishio. Right now, he just seems like the boogie man people keep warning me about."

"He kind of looks like the boogie man." He added. "Also, we've always had more odds than evens."

She raised a brow at the description, but was more concerned by a question that had been gnawing at her since Sano first told what her serial number meant. Before leaving for her first mission, she would have never dreamed of asking Kenshin for information about droids. If truth be told, she tried avoiding Kenshin. She was convinced he hated her, and still wasn't quite sure what changed his mind aside from growing sympathetic for saving her life.

Readying herself, she rushed out the question that dwelled within her. "Where are the rest of them?"

Kenshin furrowed his brows. "Rest of who?"

"If you're generation A and I'm K, and you include my brother, there should be twelve droids right?" She continued. "There's the two of us, five others in MIRU, Soujiro and Shishio. That's only nine."

Realization came to him. "You're wondering where the other three are."

She spilled forward her worries. "I'm sure this is part of my missing memory package, but I think I should know about the other droids. Isn't there a chance they could try to attack us? I'm assuming they're not at the agency for a reason."

"You don't have to worry about that." He answered.

She sat forward and locked her eyes with his. "How can you be so sure? You're being blasé about this."

"I'm not being blasé." He shook his head. "They're dead."

"Dead?" She slumped back against the bed trying to process the new information. "You mean decommissioned."

"No, only one was decommissioned." Kenshin was surprised by her use of the term. "The other two died, naturally -or as naturally as we can."

"So all those crossed out rooms..."

"Belonged to the older generation droids." He finished for her.

She thought about the layout of the rooms. From what she could sense, Misao was her neighbor -although she spent more time farther down the hall by Aoshi. Next to Misao's room was probably Megumi, who seemed to house Sano on most occasions. Then farther than that, was Tsubame.

She studied the redhead. "Don't you get lonely at your end of the hallway?"

He reflected on her question. He wondered if she realized how much she was asking. The droid rooms were lined up in the order of the generations, meaning that there were four large empty rooms between him and the next occupant. But this also meant that there were four fallen agents between him and the next.

"I'm used to it." He answered.

Kaoru exhaled loudly. "That's a terrible thing to get used to."

She suddenly whipped her head toward the entrance. In the next moment she was on her feet and planted herself between the door and Kenshin. The door quietly slid open to reveal Megumi; however, the lumbering figure of Sano behind her was what put Kaoru on edge.

Before she had a chance to react violently or otherwise toward Sano, Kenshin gripped her arm. Kaoru glanced down at Kenshin as he used her to heft himself off the floor. He bit back groan and attempted a smile at the two visitors. "Thank you for visiting our humble abode."

Megumi shot a knowing look at Sano. "Our?"

Kenshin stumbled over to the bed and sat on the edge. "Are you here for my check up?"

"Just making sure Kaoru didn't kill you." Sano attempted at humor, but Kaoru continued to glare. As Megumi approached the redheaded droid, Kaoru maintained her protective stance between him and Sano. Despite Kenshin's words, she wasn't sure if she trusted Sano with Kenshin's wellbeing.

Crouching down in front of him, Megumi quickly looked over Kenshin. From what Kaoru could see, it looked much like a human check up -there was even a stethoscope involved. When Megumi listened in on Kenshin's chest, she frowned. She glanced up at her patient. "One of your pistons is dead."

"Pistons?" Kaoru questioned. "Like a car engine?"

"Kind of." Megumi answered distractedly. She felt around Kenshin abdomen and nodded. "It looks like your new fuel tank took well. I was worried because you had an older gasket."

"That's why they pay boy wonder Yahiko the big bucks." Kenshin quipped, which took Megumi aback. Sure, he had his moments, but Megumi was not used to his lighter and friendlier side. She was more used to Mr. Doom and Gloom.

"So are you going to replace the piston or something?" Kaoru kept her place but tried to peek around Megumi, as if she would see Kenshin's exposed engine.

"We're just waiting for spare parts." Kenshin quickly answered. Megumi shot him a confused look but didn't push further.

"It's so weird." Kaoru tapped her chest with her fingers. "There's a tiny car engine in here with pistons and everything."

"That's Kenshin's old technology. The rest of us have Wankel engines." Sano corrected. "It's a fancier rotary engine. It's more efficient."

Kaoru barely acknowledged him and asked another question to the other female droid. "Where's the fuel tank located?"

Megumi bit back a laugh at Kaoru's blatant animosity toward the tall droid. "Exactly where the human stomach would be, it's shaped the same too. There's a reason why the human body is laid out the way it is. It's actually ingenious. Well, except for the spleen. That's just a bad idea."

"That it exists or the placement?" Kaoru asked.

Megumi evaded answering by shrugging in response. Instead, she approached Kaoru and flashed a small penlight into her right eye. Moving the light, Kaoru automatically followed it. Megumi nodded, pleased with what she saw. "Everything looks good. How does it feel?"

"Perfect." Kaoru answered absentmindedly, she had more important things on her mind. "How much longer are they trapping us here?"

Megumi was surprised by her sudden question. She looked over the two droids and glanced back at Sano. Turning back, she relented. "I'm not sure if they want you to know, but they're letting you out of this room tomorrow. Something about good behavior."

"Seriously? I thought Misao was kidding around about that." A smile tugged up Kaoru's lips and she faced Kenshin. "Hear that? We're being let out on parole."

"Just remember that it's on good behavior." Megumi said. "And you'll be supervised by an available droid. They don't quite trust you yet."

With that, Sano and Megumi left without any more pomp and circumstance. The door slid shut behind them and Kaoru turned to Kenshin. "I don't get why we're being let out at all."

Kenshin raised a brow. "Now you don't want out?"

She chewed on her bottom lip a bit. "It's just suspicious."

"They're trying to get their money's worth." He explained. "If you don't train and work for them, they're going keep you as a companion."

"I don't mind." Kaoru confessed as she walked over and plopped down next to him on the bed.

"You don't know what you're saying." The fact that she sat down nonchalantly next to him as she said it struck home.

Not realizing his discomfort, she rolled her eyes. "Tell me then."

"Don't give Sano too tough a time." He said instead, trying to change the direction of the conversation.

"Look, I get that he's your partner in crime." She started, allowing him to change topics. "But I don't know how you can trust him after what he did."

Kenshin chuckled. "You're going to have to be a little more specific than that. Sano has a tendency to piss people off."

"Well, I'm specifically," she put the emphasis on the word. "Referring to him shooting you."

He furrowed his brows. "He didn't shoot me."

She studied him speculatively. "That's what he said, and you believe him?"

"I don't need to." He smirked at her paranoia. "I remember. One of the henchmen got one in after I thought he was dead."

"Oh, I thought Sano lied." Kaoru mulled over the revelation. "Still doesn't mean I have to be chummy with him."

He smiled at her choice of words. "Why not?"

Kaoru stared at him perplexed by his confusion. She unconsciously touched the side of her right eye as she gave her reason, "He's the one that shot me and brought me back here."

Kenshin's eyes widened and his voice increased in volume as anger seeped in. "What?"

xXx


	16. Parole

Author Notes: I would like to apologize for the clusterf*ck that was the update of chapter 15. I don't know what happened and it magically resolved itself. The FFnet team was super helpful, so I'm sure it was just a freak glitch. Thank you to everyone giving me the heads up on the situation. I realized there was a problem right after uploading, I usually look at the chapter to make sure it published correctly. Last chapter was a mess. Funny thing is, I think I got more PMs about it than I ever got reviews for a chapter. Haha. I appreciate you guys being anxious to read it. This is the true chapter 16, there wasn't one lost in the stratosphere or anything. Another glitch I'm afraid.

On a completely different note. I'm not that big a fan of the "book cover" I have for this story. Anyone have any suggestions? Or should I keep it the way it is?

**Disclaimer: The **_**Rurouni Kenshin**_** world and all characters depicted are a creation of mangaka, Watsuki Nobuhiro.**

**Parole**

By Hoshi-ni-Onegai

Following diligently behind Aoshi, Kaoru carefully shouldered the majority of Kenshin's weight. She was relieved to finally stretch her legs and be let out of her hamster cage. According to the stoic Aoshi, they were heading to the training room. Kaoru wondered how smart that was. Kenshin was barely able to stand on his feet, and she had the strength of a regular human with her low grade fuel.

Regardless, she entered into the training room with Kenshin in tow. The large expansive room with no windows and only two doors was familiar to Kaoru. The room looked like it took a cue from a traditional dojo with its hardwood floors and wood paneling, but the lines were sleeker and more modern. Aside from her room which housed the elements of her human life, the training room was the only place that didn't feel sterile.

Hiko smirked at seeing the three new occupants. He nodded at Aoshi, who walked off to the side and leaned against the wall.

Kaoru smiled as she walked her and Kenshin closer to Hiko. "I have no idea why I'm happy to see you, but I am."

"I have that affect of people." He turned his attention toward Kenshin. "What are you going to do here? Practice your limping?"

"He's not leaving my side." Kaoru's words were nonnegotiable. She walked over to where Aoshi stood and helped Kenshin to situate himself on the floor. "You're going to be okay right?"

Kenshin smiled and nodded. "Who's taking care of whom now?"

Chuckling a bit at his words, she shot a look at Aoshi before moving away. "He better be in alive when I get back."

The tall droid only gave a slight nod in response. Seeing the collection of swords hanging on the wall, she picked up two swords. She walked back to the center to where Hiko stood. He scoffed at seeing Kaoru with the swords. "What do you think you're going to get done with those?"

Kaoru tossed a sword to him, which he deftly caught. "Sword practice?"

"With what strength?" Hiko in turn tossed her a small water bottle he had in hand to her. "Drink it."

She frowned at the bottle and glanced back at the other two droids in the room. "Is water good for me?"

"It doesn't hurt." Kenshin said.

Hiko narrowed his eyes. "It's not water."

Cracking the bottle open, Kaoru took a small sip. Her eyes widened realizing it was gin. "Am I allowed to have this?"

"I pulled a few strings. They can't expect you to train if you have nothing to run on." He gestured for her to finish the bottle. "Only catch is, you have to use up all the fuel in here."

"All of it? How long will that take?"

"At least four hours." Hiko readied his sword. "I'm sorry, did you have somewhere else to be today?"

Kaoru grinned like a child playing her favorite game. "No problem at all."

As metal clashed and distracted Kaoru, Kenshin took this chance to talk to Aoshi. Gripping the end of the taller droid's shirt he tugged him to sit on the floor. Aoshi humored the injured droid and sat down next to him.

Kenshin was straight to the point. "What's the status on the outside?"

Aoshi spared him a sideways glance at his question. Kenshin knew that he outranked the tall droid, or all the droids for that matter. Kenshin also knew that his authority was unlikely to be revoked, despite his current house arrest.

"It's quieter than usual, but Tsubame detected movement in Shibuya." Aoshi informed succinctly.

A small frown tugged down on Kenshin's lips. "Is our location compromised?"

"We're not sure yet." Aoshi tone remained even. "From what's been sighted, it's nothing aggressive yet. But that doesn't mean anything with Shishio. We'll continue monitoring the situation."

The redhead fell silent as he mulled the information over. There were aspects of Kaoru's father's rescue that bother him. These were points he didn't dare reveal to Kaoru, not yet. But Aoshi was another story. "Soujiro wasn't there during the rescue."

The droid nodded. "Tsubame's review of the surveillance tapes in the area tells us that he slipped out about a half hour before."

Kenshin furrowed his brows. "He knew we were coming."

"He probably knew Kaoru would show up eventually." Aoshi pointed out. "How he knew when and that she was out of the agency is still unknown."

"Tell everyone to prepare an escape bag." Kenshin ordered.

"If you think it necessary." Aoshi responded as he stood back up and motioned to the door. "I'm going out for a patrol."

His eyes followed the droid. "I thought we were going to be supervised."

"Not much you can do, and Hiko can handle Kaoru." Aoshi jabbed and allowed a rare smirk. "Your next guard is on his way, don't worry."

Aoshi exited and Kenshin was left to ponder. Kenshin continued watching Kaoru and Hiko as he beat the technique quiet literally into her. She was holding her own, but even Hiko with all his humanity had experience on his side. It recalled the early days when Hiko first came to the agency to train the droids. In Kenshin's memory, the shadow of four other droids sharing the compound was overwhelming. The camaraderie he had with his team now wasn't the same to what he had before, but the first generations had been his first pseudo family. Aoshi was the only one who overlapped from the hiatus, but he was activated when things had already started to unravel. Nothing stayed the same when everything imploded.

Kenshin was pulled out of his thoughts when he saw Kaoru suddenly block Hiko and push him off with more force than necessary. Hiko quickly caught himself and landed loudly on his feet a good distance away. Kaoru was paying him no attention as she faced the door with a glare.

"Kenshin, our deal is still on right?" She called out without looking away from the door.

Realizing what she meant, Kenshin also turned his attention to the door. "Absolutely."

Hiko watched the two droids in confusion when Sano came into the room. The lumbering droid sauntered into the room and froze in his steps when he saw that all three occupants were watching him. After a moment he stepped further into the room.

"What's going on here kids?" Sano asked grinning.

With speed that Sano could never hope to match and Hiko was surprised to witness from someone aside from Kenshin, Kaoru swept toward the tall droid. Sword abandoned behind her, she landed a well aimed fist on Sano's jaw. He reeled from the force and speed. His body was thrown the distance he had entered into the room and his back slammed against the door. He crumpled to the floor in a heap, but righted himself and nursed his jaw while shooting a glare at Kaoru.

"What the hell was that for!?" Sano bit out and clambered up onto his feet, stomping over to her.

Kaoru stood her ground and locked her eyes defiantly with his. "Oh, that was on Kenshin's behalf."

"What?" He turned his head toward the redhead in question.

Taking advantage of his distraction, Kaoru landed another punch but this time into his chest. The droid instinctively curled around the pain and put up his arms in a defensive stance.

"And that was for me." She snapped.

Hiko approached Kaoru and clasped a hand on her shoulder. "Leave the idiot alone. You have the upper hand on speed, but he can best you in strength."

"Trust me, he's not getting anything he doesn't deserve." She reassured. "Actually, he shot me."

Kaoru kicked her right leg out in a sweeping motion at Sano, causing him to fall to ground. Hiko rolled his eyes. "Are you even now?"

She shook her head. "I don't think you understood me. He shot me. With a gun. In the fucking eye."

"Colorful language for such a little girl." Hiko motioned her with his sword. "Let the guy lick his wounds."

Her eyes were hard as steel while she watched Sano grumble his own collection of curse words and made his way to Kenshin. She finally turned away when he was too far away to get another punch in. Her attention was taken up immediately as Hiko swiped at her with his own sword. Effectively blocking the attack, Kaoru was drawn into sparring.

Sano half crawled and limped toward Kenshin and slid down the wall to sit cross-legged next to him. "I might have deserved that."

Kenshin spared him a sideways glance. "You deserve more than that."

"Why do I get the feeling that you mean I deserve more of a beating than she gave me." Sano sighed and leaned his head back against the wall. "I had no choice."

"You had every choice." Kenshin kept his voice down so that Kaoru wouldn't overhear, but his tone was no less harsh. "You could have let her run. She didn't need to come back here."

"Yeah, she could have run." Sano replied. "But she would have to keep running forever."

"You know she could have disappeared."

He raised a brow. "Then how did you find her after she ran?"

"She stayed in Tokyo for her father." Kenshin watched forward and followed the movements of the spar. "Also, we took three years to find her when we first lost her. And we found her by accident."

"There's no one out there she can go to. She wouldn't be able to contact any friends she had left. She would be alone." Sano pointed out.

"She created an entire human life in three years. She would have been fine." Kenshin shook his head. "Instead, you're damning her to be like the rest of us."

"You're more naïve than I thought Kenshin." The tall droid sighed in disappointment. "We don't age. Out there, alone, we would have to reset our lives every few years. You don't realize how lonely that is. She could go insane."

Kenshin fell silent with all the proposed hypothetical lives that Kaoru could have led. He wasn't as naïve as his friend believed, these were all realities he had considered. However, anything that wasn't the life he knew inside of this agency was the better option. Better to keep running, even alone, than to serve for MIRU for an indefinite amount of time. Especially for Kaoru, now that she was reassigned.

"I know what you're scheming." Kenshin said evenly. "It's not going to work."

"Fine. Die then." Sano replied nonchalantly. "Just remember that after we get Soujiro, the agency will be cleared to order more droids."

Kenshin took in a long breath. "I know."

"She's safe now because you and Tsubame are the only ones not matched." Sano turned his attention to Kaoru as she blocked another attack. "When the new droids come, then she'll find out what it means to be a companion."

"You could have let her run." He shot a threatening glare to the other droid. "If she becomes another Tomoe, it'll be on your conscience."

Sano knew he struck a nerve. It was precisely the nerve he was aiming at. There was a dark past at MIRU, one that only a small handful knew fully. Much like all other droids and personnel, Sano had been debriefed on the basic history but he suspected the actual events ran deeper than he knew. The survivors of the first generations were different from the rest of the agency. The difference didn't lie between droid and human, but between pre and post hiatus. Sano was post hiatus, and he didn't know the whole story. Nevertheless, he knew that Kenshin was emotionally and physically scarred from the events.

His worry of his friend was what led Sano to plot the current situation. To a certain extent, he was disgusted with his actions that emulated past actions by the agency. Yet this was all he could do.

From the days Sano spent getting to know Kaoru, he liked her. She had a quality to her that he knew drew Kenshin in. In different circumstances, Sano was sure he could have counted Kaoru as one of his closest friends at MIRU. But times were different now. She made it different, but Kenshin changed the game. And so, Sano was ready to sacrifice her for Kenshin's sake -whatever that entailed.

Kenshin shifted as he pushed his weight against the wall to stand up. Seeing the plight of his injured friend, Sano helped him to his feet.

Kenshin grabbed hold of Sano's arm for balance. "I need to pack an escape bag."

Sano nodded. "Aoshi told the other droids."

"I haven't been back to my room." He moved toward the door. "You can take me while she's training."

Although the arrangement was for the two droids to remain monitored, Sano decided to comply with his friend's wishes -anything to get back on his good side. As he maneuvered the redheaded droid toward the door, he was suddenly stopped by a sword that sliced the air in their path.

Kaoru's eyes pierced into Sano as she raised the sword toward his neck. "Where do you think you're taking him?"

"His room." Sano answered casually.

"Did I say you could stop training?" Hiko called out as he crossed his arms waiting where he was abandoned.

She ignored her trainer. "He's not going anywhere without me."

"I know you have attachment issues, but you need to get over this separation anxiety." Sano teased.

Kenshin smiled in reassurance. "I'll be fine."

Kaoru shook her head. "I'm going with you."

"Not with three-fourths of that gin still in you." Hiko reclaimed.

She briefly glanced back at him, and then faced Sano. "I expect him back in one piece."

"I'll be back before you know it." Kenshin said.

She turned her eyes toward Kenshin and finally lowered her sword. "I don't trust him."

"Remember what I told you." He said.

"I still don't trust him." She stated.

Sano frowned. "I'm right here you know."

Backing off, she narrowed her eyes at the tall droid. "I don't trust you."

Sighing in exasperation, Sano dragged Kenshin out of the training room and away from his watchdog. Once within the safety of the hallway, Sano spoke at a more normal volume. "Why even bother with an escape bag?"

"Because I won't make it out of here?" Kenshin asked while raising his brow. "Aren't you the one always telling me to look to the future?"

"Yeah, like replacing your core. Not planning a getaway you're never going to make it through." Sano made quick work of the distance between the training room and Kenshin's.

Not bothering to walk, Kenshin allowed himself to be hauled through the agency. When Sano had finally made it to Kenshin's room, he set the redhead down on his bed. Sano stood up and motioned to the closet. "I'm assuming you need help with this."

"Grab my bag, it's on the top shelf of my closet." Kenshin replied. Getting hold of the bag, Sano tossed it to him. "Shove the usual provisions in there will you? I'll deal with my personal effects."

Sano laughed. "What the hell do you have that you don't want left here?"

"Did I say public effects? I meant to say personal effects. As in, keep out of it." Kenshin answered good naturedly.

Sano responded with a dramatic eye roll. He went on to stuff the bag with multiple changes of clothes as Kenshin inched over to his headboard. Reaching behind it, he grasped the hilt of a sword and pulled it out. The weight of it was familiar, despite the years since holding it.

Hearing the slight clink of metal, Sano turned from his assignment of packing Kenshin's bag. He frowned at seeing the item in Kenshin's hand. "What's that?"

"It's a sword." Kenshin blandly answered.

"I can see that. Where did it come from? Why do you have it?"

Ignoring Sano's question, Kenshin set the sword aside and glanced at the bag. Sifting through the contents, he looked up at Sano. "Did you pack me fifteen pairs of socks?"

"You can never have too many socks." Sano reasoned.

"Escape bags means the essentials. So three days of clothes is the max."

"And your sword is an essential item?" He grabbed two pairs of pants and tossed them on the bag. "Happy?"

Kenshin fished out a dozen pairs of socks and nodded. "Just grab me some underwear."

Sano scrunched his face. "Get that yourself. I'm not touching another dude's boxers."

"They're clean." Kenshin said in exasperation and then struggled his way to the closet.

Standing back Sano looked over his friend's form. He had never seen Kenshin anything short of strong and fast. This was the shell of the man he knew. Although Kaoru was wishing for Sano's death, he was grateful. From what he saw of her and Kenshin's interaction, they were growing attached. She cared for him, and he cared about her in a way he had never shown. Sano suspected that Kenshin may have been a different person in the early years, but the droid he knew was stoic and impermeable.

Even though Sano knew he created the circumstances that the droids were in, he believed he was expediting a relationship that would have unfolded over time. The only problem was that time was running out. Kenshin's core only had days left, weeks if he were lucky. Sano was willing to be hated for manipulating Kenshin and Kaoru to get what he wanted. He refused to lose his best friend, a man that barely had a chance to live. Kenshin had obediently served for MIRU and didn't pursue a life outside of his missions, unlike the other droids who found relationships with one another.

But when he saw the way Kenshin acted around Kaoru, he knew. Maybe the redhead didn't know yet. But Sano knew. Kaoru was the key to changing Kenshin and, if they were lucky, the agency.

xXx

Hiko was never one to show how tired he was. Exhaustion meant weakness, and weakness meant he was vulnerable. Or so he had believed up until this very moment. His image be damned, Hiko needed to sit his asst down.

Panting heavily, Hiko walked over to the edge of the training room and slid down against the wall. There were a few bottles lined against the wall where he sat. Picking one up, he drained the water within a few seconds. He reached for another one, but this time took a languid sip.

Kaoru sheathed her sword and approached him. "Tired?"

He shot her a look while lowering the bottle from his lips. "I'd like to see you spar for four hours without taking a break."

"I just did."

"As a human." He amended.

She nodded distractedly as she kept glancing over at the door. "I'm assuming I burned all the gin?"

His lips tilted up in a smirk. "He's fine."

Turning her eyes to him, she furrowed her brows. "You don't know that."

"I know a lot of things girly." He tossed her the third bottle, which she deftly caught. "He's too important of an asset."

Hearing his explanation made some sort of sense. There was a certain amount of protectiveness everyone at the agency exuded toward the redheaded droid. Nevertheless, she wasn't sure who she could really trust; so she didn't trust any of them.

She glanced down at the bottle. "More gin?"

"Sorry, no." He took a sip of his own drink. "Low grade. I'm sure you're running cold right now."

Fiddling with the bottle, she walked over to sit down next to her trainer. He gave a speculative look but didn't comment. Taking careful swigs from her bottle, she worded and reworded the questions she had reserved for the human trainer. There was something about Hiko that told her he knew more than a lot of the droids. Kaoru sensed that there were layers of secrets at the agency, and she had yet to even get through the first one. She wondered if everything would have been explained in the memory package she seemed to be missing. Then again, she suspected that the memory package only explained enough for the other droids to remain complacent and not question the agency. But Kaoru was full of questions. Only questions. And some, she couldn't ask the droids.

Kaoru decided to start by testing the waters. "If I ask you something, will you answer truthfully?"

Hiko continue to look forward and shrugged. "Only if know the answer and it's not anything about me personally."

She scoffed. "Why would I ask about your personal life?"

He shot her a sideways look. "Do you want to ask your question or not?"

Getting serious, she nodded. "What is MIRU's mission?"

"I'm not sure what you mean."

"Like a mission statement, most organizations have them." Kaoru clarified. "I'm missing a memory package or something."

Hiko shook his head. "There is no official mission statement. The agency collects intel and carries out assignments that would be too difficult or dangerous for a human."

"The government sanctifies assassinations?" She furrowed her brows. "Who are the targets?"

"Depends. One might be a threat to national security, while the next guy might be a drug lord." Seeing the deepening frown he sighed. "The world isn't a place of rainbows and puppies. It's a lot uglier than the rest of society knows."

"Then why does it seem like they're chasing after my brother and Shishio all the time?" She asked.

"Because they are." He answered. "There's a war that never would have existed without droids. MIRU is cleaning up its own mess from the early years."

"Isn't Kenshin from the early years?"

Hiko smirked and shook his head at her. "If you don't have the memories, you're not fishing them out of me. That idiot is going to have to tell you himself."

"If you guys keep up with the shrouded mystery, I'm going to assume the worst." She tried prying.

"It's probably not as bad as the truth."

"I have a pretty good imagination." Kaoru continued watching him, but he showed no signs of budging on the topic. Sighing, she moved on. "So you approve of what they do?"

"I'm only here as a trainer." Hiko denied. "I don't get involved."

"So you were lured by the paycheck?" She questioned.

"Not really. I live a Spartan lifestyle." He clarified. "They just offered me the chance to train people who could be the best fighters out there. After years training the simpering idiots in the defense forces, working with droids is a welcome change."

"Simpering idiots?" She raised a brow. "That seems harsh."

He shrugged in response. Kaoru observed him a long moment weighing the likelihood of him answering the next question. After turning it in her mind a bit, she fidgeted in her seat as it weighed down on her shoulders.

"Must be a big one." He said suddenly.

"Huh?" She responded dumbly.

"Whatever question you have left." He spelled out. "Might as well ask. I'm sure it's about the idiot anyways."

She was slightly taken aback by how easily he could read her. She wondered if it had to do with the years he spent with the other droids. However, Kaoru suspected it had more to do with his sword training than anything else.

She resolved to ask. "Who's Tomoe?"

Hiko turned quickly to stare at her. "Where did you hear that name?"

She pointed to where the two droids had been previously sitting. "They were talking in low voices. I don't think they expected me to hear them."

"Did Yahiko install supersonic hearing or something?" He frowned and sighed in exasperated. "Those idiots shouldn't be talking about things they want to keep secret."

"So it's a secret." Kaoru inched slightly closer, as if that would pry the answer out of him.

Hiko leaned back and avoided her inquisitive eyes. "And not my secret to tell."

xXx


	17. Terminal

Author Notes: Sorry for the delay in the release of this chapter. I was epically distracted by a plot bunny. I'm wondering whether to publish it or not, I don't know if there's an audience for it. It is a BtVS x SPN crossover. Yes, very narrow audience. If you don't know which fandoms those are, you're probably not in it. In the mean time, it's fun to write for.

Also, I'm thinking of not finishing that _Twilight _fiction. I'm just itching to kill Bella off, and I feel like that is not a healthy sentiment to have toward the main character. It's an overcrowded fandom anyways, no one would miss that story.

Anyways, back to the story at hand. Let's get this show on the road.

**Disclaimer: The **_**Rurouni Kenshin**_** world and all characters depicted are a creation of mangaka, Watsuki Nobuhiro.**

**Terminal**

By Hoshi-ni-Onegai

Kaoru's eyes followed Tsubame as the small droid flitted around the laboratory preparing various bags. She filled each one with small boxes in different shapes. Each box was neatly labeled with a serial number, but Kaoru had no idea what they were filled with or what they were for. However, she had the power of observation and some amateur deduction on her side. There weren't five bags or ten, instead there were seven bags. And there was only one thing that came in a nice set of seven around here: the active droids at MIRU.

Kaoru felt a bit useless sitting at the small round table tucked into the corner of the lab while Tsubame was so hard at work, but Misao was also sitting around with her and Megumi joined them only a few short minutes ago. Eventually, Tsubame slowed down and zipped up the final bag. She joined the other women at the table where each one was armed with their own cup of coffee.

Kaoru's gaze traveled from Misao to her right, Tsubame, and finally Megumi to her left with each holding a steaming cup of black coffee in identical mugs. Each woman took even sips between lapse in conversation. Conversation, which Kaoru was finding to be... incredibly normal. Megumi complained about how Sano was a slob. Misao gushed about Aoshi. And Tsubame talked about the latest book Yahiko recommended for her to read -which she apparently finished within a night.

"Should we really be sitting around chatting?" Kaoru asked around the rim of her coffee mug. "Shouldn't we be spying, analyzing, or assassinating?"

Megumi smiled. "We can't be doing that all the time. Poor humans need a head start."

"Yeah, we sort of catch up on them pretty quick." Misao grinned.

Tsubame shook her head. "The system is on autopilot."

"Autopilot?" Kaoru frowned.

"I wrote an algorithm that reads subtle changes in common place behavior. Anything remotely suspicious will be detected by the system and I'll get a notice. Then, I analyze and give recommendations for the appropriate course of action. Kenshin usually takes it from there and devises the plan." Tsubame answered.

Kaoru raised a brow at the youngest looking droid. "You're a lot more than a genius. I would know, I've worked with geniuses at the Tokyo University lab. They've got nothing on you."

"And since you literally wrote the book on intelligence analysis, and your skills package already covered espionage, you only had basic self repair to train on." Misao pointed out.

"And you speeded through that manual faster than the humans expected. So we have time to sit around and chat, like normal young women of our supposed age." Megumi leaned toward Kaoru with a foxy grin. "So spill."

Kaoru frowned. "Spill what? I don't really have much to say."

"Oh come on!" Misao dramatically flailed her arms. "If there's anyone who's got stuff to say, it's you. What's it like out there?"

"Out where?" Kaoru asked confused.

"The real world. As a human." Misao sounded completely giddy and intrigued. "Is it like the movies?"

"I'm not sure what you mean, but it's pretty normal out there. Nothing exciting, people just going through the day to day." Kaoru started. "But being with my dad... family is warm. Not just my dad, but other people on the island. These people unconditionally love and care for me. It's nice." Her voice was forlorn thinking back on a time when things were still peaceful. A time, she would never get back.

"You might not believe it, but we do care for you here." Megumi offered. "You're part of a large dysfunctional family here."

"With Kogoro as dad?" Kaoru derided. "No thanks."

"No, I mean the droids." She cleared up. "The humans have no idea what it's like to be us. They tell us we're only acting or pretending to be human, but we feel so real. I don't feel like gears or wires. Logically, I know that we're built differently, but that doesn't make me feel anymore alive." She shrugged. "And no one else can understand that. It kind of makes us family."

Kaoru had a difficult time trusting the other droids, especially with Sano shooting her in the eye and dragging her back to the facility. She had never been a suspicious person before her extraction out of her life and into MIRU. However, she couldn't deny that she wanted to trust the other droids. She wanted the camaraderie and maybe eventually even friendship. But she didn't trust them, and wondered if she ever would.

"So you two are kind of dating your brothers?" Kaoru changed the direction of her thoughts and tried to lighten the mood and forced a smile. "Isn't fraternizing within the agency frowned upon?"

Misao rolled her eyes. "Don't take it so literally, the only actual brother-sister pair is you and Soujiro. Also, you're thinking about the American intelligence agencies. Here, they want you to date."

"What?" She sounded disbelieving.

"Yeah, they even went as far as to develop a matching program." Misao said nonplussed. "Not that it worked."

"How did it not work? You two are with other droids." Kaoru pointed out.

"They have these ridiculously complicated mathematical formulas." Megumi explained. "They take the schematics of already active droids and design matches."

"So you're only here because they wanted matches?" Kaoru asked, obviously uncomfortable with the idea.

"Nah, they needed certain positions filled. I think they just figured, kill birds with one stone." Misao said. "But they never got any of the matches right. The three of us are proof of that."

The information began to click in her head. Three male droids within the agency: Kenshin, Aoshi, and Sano. Three matches who were right in front of her. "So what were the original matches?"

"Well, if you can believe it." Misao said with a grin. "I was designed for Sano, and Megumi for Aoshi. So they got it completely backwards." Kaoru could only think the original matches seemed like the more logical pairing, but decided to keep quiet. "And Tsubame is actually the oldest out of us three and the first match designed."

"For Kenshin." Kaoru finished for her.

"Didn't work out though, not that Kenshin really tried." Misao shrugged. "But I say that's better."

"Why?"

Megumi answered this time. "Because that means we can't be boiled down to math problems. There's something about us they still can't figure out."

"Well, they learned their lesson and gave up matching." Misao gestured toward Kaoru as if she was presenting a car on a game show. "And tadaa! Droid siblings to keep each other company."

Kaoru chewed on her bottom lip. "I don't get why droids need a significant other. Also, why did they assume everyone was heterosexual? Is that a comment on the agency's stance on homosexuality?"

Misao's eyes widened excitedly. "Oh my God. Please tell you're our first gay droid."

Kaoru gave an apologetic shake of the head. "Sorry. No."

"Damn." Misao sighed. "If we're like the humans, we're statistically due for one."

"Anyways," Megumi interrupted. "The agency prefers us paired up because it anchors us here. People are a lot more reckless when they're solo."

"They programmed us without weaknesses, so they're making us get one?" Kaoru took a long sip of her coffee. "Seems counterproductive."

"Cynical much?" Misao laughed.

Kaoru aimed her glance at Tsubame. "And how about you?"

"Me?" Tsubame squeaked out and blushed.

"Her match might not have worked out, but she has a thing for guy." Megumi smiled fondly at the small droid. "But that's a conversation for another time. What about you?"

With the attention turned around on her, Kaoru shot Megumi a confused look. "Being trapped and captured by a secret government agency isn't exactly conducive to my love life."

"What was your excuse before?" Misao asked smirking.

"Writing my thesis and training the foreign exchange student to not destroy the equipment in the intelligence lab." She said exasperated, remembering the annoying French student.

The look Megumi shot her was little too knowing for Kaoru's tastes. "You just spent five days in a room with Kenshin. There's gotta be something there."

"Not really." Kaoru answered.

"Come on. Don't be coy."

"I'm not being coy." She assured. "Check the security tapes. There are security tapes right?"

"We don't have access to those." The quiet Tsubame interjected. "The security system that monitors the agency is only accessible in the backrooms where only humans can go. To prevent doctoring the images and spying on each other."

"Way to boost morale and breed paranoia." Kaoru grumbled.

"It's a reaction to the early years of MIRU." Tsubame said.

Kaoru perked up at the mention of the elusive history of the agency. She tried to be casual with her question. "What happened in the early years?"

Misao shook her head. "No way are you getting that from me. I heard you were on the hunt for that information."

"What's with the cloak and dagger?" Kaoru groaned in frustration.

"Sorry, but it was unanimously decided that Kenshin would be the one to have to tell you everything."

"Why? This is so stupid." Kaoru argued. "He says he'll one day tell me, but I'm getting the feeling that day is a long ways away."

"That all depends on you." Megumi said. "We're hoping you change his mind."

"On telling me? Because I don't think I'm cut out for that job." Kaoru remarked.

"We want you to convince him that this life isn't half bad." Misao was hopeful. She was under the same assumption as Sano. If anyone could convince Kenshin, it would be Kaoru.

"Not sure I can convince him of something I'm not sure I believe anymore." Kaoru said, defeated.

Megumi protested. "I think you underestimate yourself. And we're not talking about some motivational talk we want you to give him." She tried to get Kaoru's undivided attention on the matter. "Kenshin wants to die."

Kaoru froze at the declaration. It shouldn't have surprised her as much as it did, but subconsciously she had been whitewashing the already chaotic life she was thrown into. There were hints during overheard conversations, and even in conversations she had been an active participant in. Kenshin, however, was skilled enough to distract and change the topic.

"Why?" The question slipped out of her before she had a chance to swallow it down.

"He has his reasons. Misguided ones, but reasons." Megumi commented.

"I don't..." Kaoru started, but amended herself. "Is he trying to be reckless during missions? Is that how he got shot?"

"I don't know what happened at the rescue." Megumi confessed. "He's usually more careful. He almost never comes back that badly injured."

Kaoru furrowed her brows. This didn't make sense. If Kenshin wanted to die, wouldn't he just try to get killed during a mission?

"He's letting himself breakdown." Tsubame quietly interjected.

Kaoru faced directly at her, the smallest of the droids and the one who seemed the most fragile. But Kaoru knew better than to underestimate her. Tsubame was more deadly with a computer than Kaoru could ever hope to be with a gun. This unassuming droid was capable of toppling cities and entire governments by compromising security grids. And in the current moment, Kaoru was on the receiving end of Tsubame's imploring gaze.

"He's letting himself die." Tsubame tone was sad with an edge of desperation. "He's punishing himself."

xXx

It seemed like a good idea at first. Heck, he had jumped at the opportunity. But now that he was tugging at the waist band of the dress he was wearing, he was having second, third, and fourth thoughts.

"Stop fidgeting. Ladies don't fidget." Chou mocked.

Kamatari shot the blond a glare. The idea of dressing up like a girl seemed fun at first. Cross dressing was something he always wanted to try out, but ten minutes into wearing the blue summer dress, he was done. The flouncy and delicate way the girls wore these things around town was not how it felt. The waist cinched things that really didn't need to be cinched. The sleeves were cut unnecessarily short and the skirt hit slightly above the knee. The breeze he was feeling up the skirt wasn't helping his cause either.

Sure, the first few seconds of getting the thing on, it felt fine. He even did one of those Disney princess skirt twirls around the room a few times, but the magic wasn't everlasting. Then again, the regular girl probably didn't have kilos and kilos of C-4 strapped to their thighs with medical tape. The purse that Kamatari was forced to carry was also biting down into his shoulder. The amount of equipment he was expected to carry was not what he signed up for. After today, he was hanging up any inclination to cross dress. He would stick with androgynous fashion. Pants all the way.

"I'd like to see you wear a dress and not whine the entire time." Kamatari bit out.

"You volunteered." Chou grinned while carrying only a medium sized shopping bag.

"Yeah, because you would have looked oh-so-pretty with a dress on." Kamatari said snidely. "It was either me or Soujiro. Would you have rather worked with him?"

"Never thought I'd say this, but I prefer you." Chou said while leading them through the busy shopping district and down to the subway station. "That guy... there's something off about him."

"He's a robot." Kamatari agreed. "There's a lot off about him."

"Not just that. Shishio is more normal -or as normal as a sociopathic android can be." Chou clarified as he fished through his pockets for a few coins. "Soujiro... he's like that Chinese guy. I think they're psychopaths."

"Maybe." He took one of the tickets Chou bought and entered the station through the busy turnstiles. Weaving through the bustling crowds to the orange line platform, they were unnoticed as they slipped into the shadowy recesses of the tracks. Now out of earshot of the general populous, Kamatari continued. "The other guy is hotter, but I'd pick Soujiro."

"I'm not asking who you'd rather bang." Chou mumbled as they turned down from the tracks to small tunnel. Having to crouch, Chou wasn't exactly comfortable making his way down the claustrophobic concrete path.

"Get your head out of the gutter." Kamatari teased while shining a flashlight ahead of them and counting his paces. "I'm just saying that Soujiro maybe a psychopath, but the other guy is just crazy. He ten too many screws loose in his head."

"I don't get why Shishio trusts him." Chou ranted.

"Sixty-two." Kamatari counted aloud and stopped. He squatted down and began peeling the tape off of his thighs. Lining the explosives on the ground he turned to Chou. "This is the place, give me the rest from your bag."

The other man did as told and started handing each plastic clay block over one at a time. "I know Henya's the bomb expert, but this seems like we're overdoing it. We're going to make a whole the size of small city block with this."

Kamatari shrugged. "Kinda the point isn't it?"

xXx

"Sorry Kaoru." Misao offered as they stood in front of the door etched with K. "I'd say you're not a hostile prisoner, but Kogoro's not exactly trusting right now."

"I know." Kaoru replied.

"Please don't hate me." Misao implored.

A smile tugged at the corner of Kaoru's lips. There was something endearing about Misao. She was like the hyper younger sister she never had. "I don't. I get it, don't worry."

With a hesitant nod, Misao accessed the door panel and ushered the youngest droid in. "I'll see you tomorrow... maybe. The humans will review your behavior and see if they can let you out again tomorrow."

"I don't think punching Sano is helping my cause." Kaoru admitted and entered the room with the door sliding shut behind her.

"Glad to hear you didn't beat anyone else up while I was gone." Kenshin quipped from the bed. He was lying down with his eyes closed, as if in the middle of a nap.

Kaoru frowned and stalked over to him. "Where the hell did you go? I said I didn't want you out of my sight."

"I didn't want to interrupt your coffee talk with the girls." He blinked eyes open to look up at her. His voice sounded winded, like he just came back from a long jog. "You want allies here."

"Sano's my main problem." She insisted while nudging him to make room for her to sit next to him. "So what were you up to?"

Kenshin complied and scooted closer toward the wall on the other side of the bed. "Packing my bag." He pointed to the casually placed duffle bag by the bookcase.

"Moving in? I feel like this is moving too fast." She mocked.

"But it's going so great." Kenshin joked and pointed to the empty duffle next to his. "Pack yourself an escape bag."

Kaoru frowned. "I don't know what that is."

"Max of three days worth of clothes and anything sentimental. It's kind of like that exercise of, 'what would you grab if your room was on fire?'" He said turning his face toward her.

"I'm assuming this is a survival bag and not a weekend getaway bag." She swept her eyes around the room registering what she wanted to pack.

"And sentimental means things like pictures and irreplaceable heirlooms, not your favorite pair of shoes you bought on sale." He jested.

Getting up from her seat, she made a straight shot to her bookcase. "I figured as much."

She started popping the backs off of the few pictures frames she had there and neatly stacked the photographs. She then plucked out a small older book with a beige canvas cover and simple gold letters on the front and spine. Tucking the pictures into the book, she grabbed the aforementioned duffle and walked over to the bed. Setting the duffle on the bed, she moved on to her nightstand and rummaged through the contents of the drawer.

Curiosity getting the best of him, Kenshin peeked into the bag and raised a brow at the book. "Peter Pan?"

"It's not a first edition or anything, it's just old." She pulled out a small velvet pouch the size of her hand and tossed that into the bag. "My dad got it for me when I left the island. He said I was going on an adventure, and there's no one who loves adventures as much as Peter Pan."

Kenshin fell silent as Kaoru went about gathering random objects from around the room. The parallels between the boy who never grew up and the droids weren't lost to him. He thought better than to tell her about how she would never age and that she was frozen in time until the day she finally broke down. Instead, he watched her as she gathered what she probably deemed as objects of sentimental value. It was likely that the other droids would only have a small handful of items, but Kaoru was accumulating a small pile. To honestly confess, he expected as much. While the other droids were enclosed into this sterile environment where there was little that could be done to personalize each room, Kaoru's was different. Her room was the product of three years and it was a reflection of her personality -nothing like the standard issue furniture and bedding everyone else was subject to. Kenshin very much preferred her room over his.

When the first piece of clothing was finally pulled out to be packed, Kaoru stopped and frowned. "Why do I need an escape bag anyways?"

"To escape." He answered simply.

"You know what I mean." She said miffed.

"There's some activity in Shibuya, nothing suspicious enough right now to warrant an evacuation, but we need to be prepared." He glanced over at her. "That's our motto: be prepared."

"The boy scouts are going to sue." She chided with a smile.

"You got me, we don't have a motto." Kenshin chuckled, but was interrupted by his own cough. Clearing his throat he continued with his voice a little wheezier than before. "We should suggest one."

Kaoru saw it before, but knowing the truth was something all together different. Previously, he just looked sick to her. He just needed rest and a repair to a piston or something and he would be fine. But now, armed with knowledge, she couldn't ignore the signs. Kenshin was dying.

"Were you ever going to tell me?" She whispered.

"I'm going to need a little bit more context than that." He responded with a smile.

"I heard, that you want to die." She said hesitantly. "And you're letting yourself die."

Kenshin's eyes widened a fraction before going back to normal. He turned his face slightly away from her, to avoid her inquisitive gaze. "That's none of your business."

"You're right, it's not." Kaoru stated. "But everyone seems to think it is, so I want to get a crack at it. They think I'm some kind of savior of your soul."

"My soul? I think you're thinking software." He sat up and leaned back against the headboard. "This is my decision. No one has the right to tell me what to do. Not the agency. Not the other droids. And not you."

His tone was harsh, but she could tell he was forcing it. Kenshin wasn't as cold and calculating as the front he put on for everyone. If anything, she'd seen that during her time with him on the run outside the agency and during their five-day imprisonment.

Shoving a few more items into the bag and zipping it up, Kaoru crossed her arms and stood defiantly next to him. "You're so hell bent on using 'he' and 'she' when you refer to us, but you're the one that makes the distinction between us and humans more clear than anyone else." Kenshin didn't have a response to her accusation, it was little too true to deny. She repeated her earlier question. "Were you ever going to tell me?"

He scrutinized her for a long moment and a pregnant silence fell between the two. His tone was even when he finally spoke. "No."

Her eyes narrowed and hurt crossed them for a brief second. "So you were going leave me here. Alone."

"That's why I wanted you to run." He stressed. "But you'll have the other droids."

"I don't know them like I know you." Her façade was weakening at her admittance.

Kenshin sighed. "You don't know me that well."

"I may not know your history, but I know you." She exhorted. "I trust you."

Kenshin internally winced at her revelation, the weight of it was little too much the bear. "You don't trust them." He stated more than asked.

"Can you blame me? Sano, Aoshi and Misao were at the building where my dad was held while Soujiro was nowhere to be seen." Her tone was controlled, showing that these were not the rants of a madwoman. "Megumi is Sano's girlfriend or something, so I know she's on his side. And Tsubame... well, I haven't decided about her yet."

Furrowing his brows he watched her reaction carefully. "You think this is some kind of conspiracy? That we're behind your father's death?"

Kaoru shook her head. "Them. Not you."

"I am them. If you can trust me, you can trust them." He testified earnestly.

"They haven't done much to prove themselves." She reiterated.

"I don't know why you trust me so much." He admitted.

"You haven't lied to me." Kaoru spelled out. "You kept some things secret, but you've never lied."

"How can you be so sure?" He was berating. There was so much she didn't know about him, or the agency. But the beginnings of a smile at the corner of her lips said otherwise. Kenshin wondered if three years being human was enough to instill women's intuition in her.

"You think you won all those card games because you could read me?" She grinned. "You have a tell. No one else may know it, but I do."

Realization dawned on him. "You were figuring out how to read me. The entire time." He let out a laugh, a genuine one that took Kaoru by surprise. Kenshin grinned. "Well played."

His smile was disarming. Kaoru temporarily lost her train of thought and smiled back at him in reaction. But then her mind caught up with her and she furrowed her brows. "You're not getting the broken piston replaced, are you?"

"No, I'm not." He confessed softly.

"If I asked you to get whatever is killing you replaced, would you do it?" She knew the answer to the question before she asked it, but she had to ask. Just in case. But that didn't mean she had to face him to get her answer.

"I've waited years for this Kaoru." He answered. "We don't get natural deaths."

The fact that he said her name threw her a bit, but she quickly composed herself. "But you said two of the past droids died naturally."

"Which was eleven years ago. They've corrected for that." He countered. "The only way we can die now is to be killed on the field or getting decommissioned. I'm not a big fan of either of those options."

She frowned. "So you're letting yourself fall apart? You want to go the way of the Ford Pinto?"

"That's my prerogative." He nodded. "You'll understand in a few years."

"If I last that long." Seeing the look he shot her, she sighed. "If you're really determined to die, I can't stop you. And I'm guessing the rest of the agency has had their turn trying to convince you, so I won't bother. But you can't expect me to want to do your job for you after you leave. I don't want to do this. Any of this. I just want a normal life."

Kenshin gave her a tragic smile. "We all do."

"Maybe I want my peace too." She commented. "Maybe I can die too."

Even though he welcomed his version of death for years now, the idea of the same fate for Kaoru turned something in his gut. He had his reasons for wanting to die, but she was different. Before being sucked into the agency, she had a life. One she created out of thin air in the span of three short years. If the reasons for living disappeared for her now, she could have the chance to gain some later. Kaoru had the option to reset her life -although the possibility of her spending the rest of it within the walls of the agency was strong.

"Just do me a favor then." He coaxed. "Just stick around with me until I go. I'd like the company."

Hearing his request, she smiled and nodded. "Happy to oblige. I am a companion after all." Seeing his upset expression, she added, "Oh yeah, you're not a fan of my new title. But I'll stick around anyways."

Kenshin prepped to give a response, but suddenly turned his attention toward the door that slid open. There were no visitors on the other side, there was nothing standing between them and freedom. Kaoru stood up and whipped her head between the door and Kenshin. "What's going on?"

He extended his hand out to her. She took the cue and helped him to his feet and supported his weight.

"Feel that weird tickle at the back of your neck?" She nodded in response to his question. "It's the silent alarm." After some pointing, he got her to move them toward the dresser where Kenshin grabbed the bottle of perfume and handed it to her. "Drink this."

Kaoru looked at him as if he was crazy. "What's going on?"

"Just do it. Drink." His voice was stern and commanding.

The last time she heard him like this, they were dodging bullets. It seemed best to obey the more experienced droid. Cracking open the top of the perfume bottle, she quickly chugged the liquid down. She wanted to wince at the flavor and stop, but she obediently finished off the bottle. Then she felt it. The same surge of strength she got when Hiko gave her the high proof alcohol.

At her surprised look, he clarified. "Perfume tastes terrible, but it's high on alcohol content." He pointed to their escape bags. Each of them swung the strap over their shoulder and Kenshin nodded. "We have to run. Now. Take me to my room."

Kaoru was quick in her movements as she supported Kenshin and swiftly made their way to room A, where she found the door also open. Once they breached the door, he nodded toward his closet. She made quick work of the distance, practically carrying him there. Opening the closet, he shoved aside the few hanging shirts and pants to the side. He pushed the back of the closet open, revealing a passage.

"Come on." He squeezed through to enter the darkened passage that was too low to stand up straight in.

She followed behind him and glance back at the door which he told her to close once she was through it. "Was that door always there?"

"It's always locked, it only opens during emergencies. Every room has one." His pace was slower than he wanted, but there wasn't enough room for Kaoru to help him.

"What about my room?" She asked.

He braced against the wall and continued down the dark hall. "We can't use it. It's probably compromised. We don't know how much Soujiro knows."

Finally reaching an area that was high enough to stand up in and wide enough to maneuver around, she took her place next to him to support his weight. He let out a relieved breath from the help. His body was angry with him. Sano was right. He couldn't make it through the escape. It would be better if Kaoru left him here. But before he could say as much, she wrapped her arms around his waist and easily lifted him. Kenshin felt a little on a ridiculous side to be carried by someone, but he wasn't going to protest. He knew he should be left behind, but something within him wanted to escape with her.

"I don't understand what's going on." She said as he gestured in the direction she needed to take them. "Why are we allowed to leave?"

"It's emergency protocol." He explained. "MIRU's been attacked."


	18. Protocol

Author Notes: I've had the scene in this chapter planned out for a while now (years, really), but I was hesitant to finally write it when the timing coincided with the recent Boston Marathon incident. I mean no offence to anyone with this scene still included, but leaving it out made no sense. So, if you're angry with my inclusion of it, I apologize and you can leave a nasty review. In addition, I left out the 1995 Sarin gas attack which actually took place in the Tokyo subway system. I realized it would be relevant to bring it up, but confusing for a non-Japanese audience.

There is a section in this chapter that I could have sworn I inserted in another. So if a part seems repetitive it's because after scouring through the story I couldn't find it. Which also means there is a lone piece of early dialogue that probably doesn't make sense... Woops, continuity. I think this is why authors write entire books then publish.

Tell me what you think on the flipside!

**Disclaimer: The **_**Rurouni Kenshin**_** world and all characters depicted are a creation of mangaka, Watsuki Nobuhiro.**

**Protocol**

By Hoshi-ni-Onegai

With Kenshin resting on the sofa, Kaoru decided to investigate. Granted, there wasn't much to investigate in a small one bedroom apartment, but she needed to distract herself. It was a relatively modest apartment, if an apartment in Roppongi Hills could ever be called modest. As the most expensive neighborhood in Tokyo, the apartment fit the surroundings; small square footage, but high end everything. The kitchen was sleek and pristine -a trait that carried out through the apartment. Color was absent from this gleaming place. Everything was in black or white. To be honest, it felt a bit too much like a chess board.

A television took up the better part of one wall that was opposite of the bedroom door, and a black leather sofa was placed in front of it. The kitchen, or better called a kitchenette, was tucked in the corner right by the front door. The view was probably what sold the place. Straight across from the front door, past the television and couch, was a full wall of glass pane sliding doors that led out to a small balcony. Night had taken over the city hours ago, and the lights from the busy metropolis was pretty in the sense that it appeared that there was black sea of floating stars... or something cliché like that. Kaoru liked a nice view as much as the next girl, but she couldn't justify paying the money to live in a place like this.

The adjacent bedroom was compact with a diminutive wardrobe, a bed, and a nightstand cramped in the small space. The bedroom also had a spectacular view, but Kaoru was more surprised to see the first trace of grey in the apartment on a decorative pillow on the bed. Wandering to the wardrobe, she found the contents to be sparse. Three button-up shirts in varying shades of light colors, two expensive business suits: one navy and one charcoal, two pairs of wingtip shoes, and a small collection of Italian silk ties. The contents of the apartment fit perfectly with the profile of the usual clientele around here, and the possible candidate for this apartment. The fake apartment dweller was a banker earning a good income, but over reaching by living in a cramped apartment in the priciest part of town. The man was single and considered himself modern. Possibly a Machiavellian.

Kaoru walked back out the main room where Kenshin took up the entire sofa and attempting to reach the television remote situated on the far corner of the coffee table. She rolled her eyes at the pathetic display. Droid or human, all men were worthless when they were sick.

Previously, after clearing the dark passage which Kaoru could have sworn went on for miles, they came out from the opposite side of Shibuya from the backroom of a convenience store. The doorway had been hidden by boxes, and it appeared no one had ever suspected anything there. After ducking onto a public bus and taking the necessary precautions to make sure they weren't being followed, Kenshin finally told her to get to Roppongi. They entered into a high security apartment where the doorman greeted Kenshin as Mr. Matsumoto. She went along with it, and Kenshin played the role of the drunken businessman with his date a little too well. Once they reached the thirty-third floor and the apartment in question, Kenshin immediately motioned to the sofa where Kaoru unceremoniously deposited him.

Back in the present, Kaoru grabbed the remote and tossed it to Kenshin. "So why are we even bothering with protocol? Why don't we just run?"

"Because Shishio is after us." He said while turning on the television and flicking through various channels. "Trust me, MIRU is the lesser of the two evils."

What he said made logical sense and as she weighed the pros and cons of both prospects, she went to search in the kitchen. Opening a few cabinets with only plates and wine glasses, she eventually came upon the booze. "Found it." She reached in for the new bottle of vodka and Everclear. Kaoru considered the possibility of grabbing some glasses, but what did it matter?

"_A preliminary investigation by the police indicates a possible terrorist attack." _Hearing the grave voice of a news anchor, Kaoru turned back with the bottles in hand. Her eyes widened by the chaotic image on screen. Firefighters were rushing around the scene of the busiest part of Shibuya, trying to put out the raging fire. Thick black smoke billowed from the subway entrance. Civilians, everyday people who should never be pulled into these situations, were running away in panic. Kaoru's followed the image of young man, probably no older than twenty, with blood dripping down from his forehead and calling out for someone -a loved one, he may never see again.

"_Officials comment that the attack was strategic and unlikely to be done by amateurs. The motivation behind the explosion is still unknown."_ The news feed cut to the footage of the panic from another angle. Kaoru turned her eyes away at seeing the image of a filled body bag being rushed away on a gurney.

"Shishio did this?" She asked while avoiding the television screen and handing him the vodka.

"It's the most likely scenario." He answered and received the bottle. He turned the TV off at seeing her discomfort, it was an indication that she was still very much human. Kenshin had an urge to smile at that thought, but years of training allowed him to keep it inside -and it seemed inappropriate considering the current situation.

"What's his endgame?" Kaoru questioned and motioned for him to make room on the sofa. Sitting down next to him, she tried to distract herself with her newly possessed bottle of liquor. "Does he want to kill us? Gain the agency's resources? Destroy the agency?"

Kenshin nodded. "All of the above."

"So he's just a bad guy? Like the ones from the movies that are just inherently evil and causing chaos?" Kaoru was obviously displeased with the idea. "There has to be motive."

"Money and power -or so we've figured from the gathered intelligence." He took a long drink of the vodka, sighed in mild relief. Even though he wasn't firing on all engines, the difference between low and high grade fuel was a respite. His mobility would still be restricted and his breathing labored, but he felt the difference.

"When did he go rogue?" She inquired.

"Ten years ago."

"And we only know he might be after money and power? He's a little more than a kingpin?" Kaoru furrowed her brows. "There's gotta be more."

"You're probably right." He considered her for a long moment, then offered something he needed to on a clear conscience. "You might be able to run."

She whipped her eyes toward him. "But you just said..."

"Without me slowing you down, you could disappear."

"You're not getting rid of me that easily." She shook her head and smirked at him "Anyways, there's this redhead that made me promise to babysit you."

He frowned at her. "I don't remember the word 'babysit' being used."

Her smirked morphed into a genuine smile. "Anyways, I like you."

"That's not something I hear every day." He returned her smile. "Thanks."

"Well, I've met too many people these days that I really don't like, so I'm sticking with you." She said. "And you dragged me along on your escape route."

"You and Soujiro had a mutual escape route, same safe house, and identical protocol." He justified. "The agency has no idea knowing how much got hacked out of him."

"Wait, Soujiro's known about the agency's location this whole time and we've sat on our asses doing nothing?" She said indignantly.

"No, agency location is never programmed into a droid. We only know what turns to take during our escape route to get out into the open. After that, it's the droid's job to figure out where in Tokyo they are and get to their temporary safe house." He explained.

"This is only temporary?" She glanced around the room. "Are we moving to another agency headquarters after this?"

"Kind of. It's another safe house. More of a stronghold." He then added, "Soujiro doesn't know about it, it's been changed since he's been hacked."

"When?"

"The change is staggered. We move in two days. By the time we get there, Sano and Tsubame should already be there." He set aside the bottle.

"Isn't the agency compromised then?" She remarked. "If MIRU is evacuated, doesn't Shishio now have access to all the files? Can't they track us?"

Kenshin raised a brow at her paranoia and line of questioning. "I'm surprised you didn't notice, but our tracking was disabled the moment we breached the emergency door in my closet. You can't sense me anymore."

Kaoru was taken aback by the revelation. What he said was true, she didn't sense him. Maybe it was the adrenaline -or whatever it was that pumped through her veins- but she had been focused on the moment. And the moment had been to make a disabled redhead with a distinctive scar on his face seem unnoticeable. She was surprised she made it out of the convenience store with Kenshin limping by her side.

"When the emergency protocol is initiated, the hard drives in the agency are dumped. There's a cloud server at an undisclosed location that still has all of our intel, but the computers back at HQ are no better than a high-powered computer." He elaborated. "Also, after the agency is cleared of all authorized personnel, it gets flooded."

"Flooded." She said in disbelief. "From where? There's no river around there."

His nose pinched as if he smelt something awful. "The sewage tunnels. Everything in HQ is completely useless now."

"So the bomb set off the emergency protocol?" She prodded.

"No, that explosion came after. We would have heard or felt it otherwise." He concluded. "Tsubame initiated the process. Without the humans around, she can call emergency protocol at her discretion."

"She's a woman... girl of much power." She chewed on her lip. "Woman? I know she's the oldest even, but can't quiet wrap my head around that."

"We don't change." He said in quietly. "We stay however way we woke up."

"I don't know about that. Everyone freaked out when they saw I got bangs, so I think we can change." She beamed. "Anyways, I heard she's your match."

Kenshin let out an exasperated sigh. "I should have known coffee talk would get me in trouble."

"Oh come on, Kenshin." She pressed on. "You know so much about me. This is the first nugget of truth I got about you."

"It's not really dirt." He insisted. "The match didn't work out."

"From what I heard, that was your fault." She goaded. "So how did they figure this out? They picked out an appropriate height for your girlfriend? Is that why Tsubame is so short?"

He shot her a glare at the comment, but eventually sighed and gave in. He knew full well she wasn't letting this one go. "She's a zero percent."

"Should I know what that means?" Kaoru replied.

"Remember when I said you were a fifty percent combat and fifty percent intelligence? Well, Tsubame is zero percent combat. She's the only droid not equipped with combat skills." He started. "We can only be programmed to do so much. Tsubame is programmed at zero percent combat capacity, which means that in a fight she's no better than the average teenage girl."

"Why would they do that? Shouldn't she know how to defend herself?" Kaoru reasoned.

He shook his head. "We're here to fill a need. They needed her for the intelligence unit so they didn't waste any of her programming space for combat."

"So they built a cute walking and talking super computer." She assessed. "No wonder she's a super genius."

"She doesn't sleep." Kenshin said edging on angry. "The agency wasn't sure how many more intelligence droids could be developed, so they decided to design one that didn't need sleep. That's why she's no stronger than a human."

Kaoru's eyes widened at the depravity of the situation. "She's awake, all the time?"

Kenshin nodded. "She has a room. They even gave her a bed. I think it was a sick joke or something." He glowered at the thought.

"You were furious when you found out." She stated more than asked.

"They built her just for her job and to match me. Nothing more, nothing less." He sighed. "Can you imagine having one perpetual day? She gets no break. She's always working."

Kaoru gave a sad smile. "How did they match you with her?"

"They made us complete opposites. They thought we would complement each other, but it ended up being that we're too different." He admitted. "Ultimately, we get along with our matches. Probably more than if we didn't have the matching program. We were forced to spend time with each other."

"Sounds familiar." Kaoru cracked.

"She's like a little sister to me, so their plan pretty much backfired." Kenshin shrugged.

"By opposite do you mean percentage?" Seeing his nod, she pressed further. "What percent are you?"

He purposely avoided her eyes. "One hundred."

She laughed. "Is that why you're the strongest one here?" Then, realization hit her and she jested. "Wait, that means you only have combat in that head of yours. Are you like the dumb jock? I would have pegged that stereotype on Sano."

"I'd still be part of Mensa." He said defensively. "But I'm nowhere near Tsubame's capacity. Instead, I know every way there is to kill a human."

"You're so dramatic sometimes." She nudged him with her elbow. "So what about me? I'm the new and improved model so I should be like a thousand percent right?"

"Sorry, like I said, you're a fifty percent. Same as your brother." He explained.

"How perfectly mediocre." Kaoru pouted.

"If it's any consolation," he elaborated. "You're the only two droids that are evenly split between combat and intelligence. Everyone else tips the scales on one side or the other."

"I could probably guess who's on which side." She mumbled.

"Probably." He mused. "Our titles and designation comes from our programming. It's not like we test into our titles."

"So you're the head of combat, right?" She pondered out loud. "I was supposed to be this weird amalgamation of titles. Intelligence, espionage, and combat."

"Actually, you picked up intelligence on your own. You were only assigned to espionage and combat." After a beat, he added, "If I were you, I'd be thanking the bomber."

Her memory flashed to the news report of the bombing and the people running scared from the rubble and smoke. She shook her head to clear her mind. "Why?"

"You were designated as a companion." He clarified. "You were never going to be let out."

"What do you mean by never?" She couldn't explain why, but her question came out as little louder than a whisper.

"I mean," He started. "You would have really been the hamster in the cage."

"I was a prisoner at MIRU." She assented. The information was new, but inherently not surprising.

"So was I." Kenshin nodded slowly. "We all are."

Kaoru fell quiet, pondering their conversation. Actually, not just the recent conversation but everything she learned about the agency and the truth about what she was. Even with the crash course of the mechanic underbelly of the government, there was so much still left unanswered. How was it possible that there was artificial intelligence technology this advanced and the public didn't know about it? Machines so perfect and artful that they could slip into a crowd of people and never get noticed?

Before meeting Kenshin, she never really went through an existential crisis. Sure, she wondered about her identity, but never what she was. She was a lost human woman. That was it, and that was all her father needed to love her unconditionally. Now, she came to the revelation that she was a poison: lead that spilled into the water that killed anyone who drank from it.

But now she knew that as self hating she is now, Kenshin was a lot worse and harder on himself. She glanced over at him. He had lightened up significantly since she finally got to know him, but there was always something darker lingering just below the surface. The scar he had emblazoned on his cheek was only a constant reminder.

She broached the topic precariously. "Tsubame said you're punishing yourself." She waited for him to face her. When he did, she continued. "From what? What happened in the early years?"

"Kaoru..." His voice was almost pleading.

"If you're going to leave me here alone with the lunatics trying to kill me, I think I should know why." She firmly stood her ground. "I'm tired Kenshin. I'm tired of all the secrets and being the only one not knowing what's going on. I feel like I'm flying blind all the time."

"It's not that simple." He tried, but Kaoru was too determined to be deterred.

"If you can guarantee me that everything that is happening now with Shishio and my brother has nothing to do with the early years of the agency, then say so and I won't push anymore." Her steel blue eyes were unwavering. "But if something from your past can creep up and kill me, I'd want to know."

Kenshin studied her posture. Of the short time he spent with her, he knew when she was in a specific mood. A mood, where he had a snowball's chance in hell of talking her out of. He slunk back in his seat and stared up at the ceiling. If he was going to reveal to her what he never told any other droid in the agency, then he needed to not look at her. He could feel the judgment in her gaze without the added support of seeing it in her eyes. "Do you want the edited agency brief or the long version?" He hoped for the former.

And of course, she picked the latter. She scooted closer toward him in her seat. "I want to know what really happened. Not what's in some government report."

As he continued to stare at the pristine white ceiling with the wrought iron light fixture looming above them, he took in a steadying breath. Courage. That's what he needed now. And some bravado would help too. "The first thing I remember when I woke up was Gein's yellow-toothed grin shoved in my face."

xXx

A/N: The next chapter will be the enigmatic early years of the agency. It will be the only chapter that is fully in a particular character's POV, so I expect it to take a little longer to write than usual. I had this chapter written a while back, but I didn't publish it because I am nowhere near done with the next chapter. So please be patient with me. Until next time!


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